No evidence GP delay made condition worse

What happened

Mrs D complained that her GP delayed diagnosing a serious medical condition and making the appropriate referral to a specialist. She felt this has led to her condition being worse than it would have been if there was no delay.

What we found

There was a failure to carry out a proper assessment of Mrs D's symptoms and medical history, and her GP should have made a referral sooner. However, there was no evidence that these failings led to Mrs D's condition being worse, and so we did not uphold this aspect of the complaint. Having said this, we did not think that the Practice's response to the complaint had fully recognised or addressed its failings. We asked it to address this.

Putting it right

The Practice explained how the learning from the complaint had been taken forward, and how it would make sure that full assessments of presenting symptoms were carried out, and past history taken into consideration.