Poor communication and incorrect information from GP practice and PCT was distressing

What happened

Ms T's GP Practice changed its boundary area and wrote to say she would be removed from its list because of this. Ms T appealed. She said it would be very difficult for her to attend another local surgery and the Practice hadn't taken her age and disability into account, so she had been discriminated against. The Practice told her that the PCT had told it that it could not make exceptions, and that there was no discrimination because no exceptions had been made. Ms T approached the PCT, which told her that it was the Practice's decision but she should write to the PCT with more information in support of her appeal. Ms T did this but the PCT did not respond and the GP Practice removed her from its list.

What we found

The communication with Ms T was confusing and unhelpful. The GP Practice told her the PCT would not allow an exception to be made for her and the PCT told her it could not make the Practice make an exception for her. The Practice did not give a reasonable explanation of why it would not allow Ms T to stay on its list. It did not show that it had considered the Equality Act 2010, which says that service providers should consider the impact of their decisions on people with protected characteristics, including age and disability.

However, it extended the deadline for Ms T's removal from the list a number of times to allow her more time to find a new GP. We partly upheld the complaint about the Practice.

The PCT encouraged Ms T to appeal to it, even though it could not influence the decision. It then failed to reply to her letters, which left her feeling ignored and rejected. We fully upheld the complaint about the PCT.

Putting it right

Both organisations apologised, wrote to Ms T to explain how they would prevent similar issues from happening again and paid her £250 each in recognition of the distress she experienced as a result of the failings we identified.

Note: When the NHS restructured, NHS England's Hertfordshire and the South Midlands Area Team took over the responsibilities of what had been Milton Keynes PCT.