GPs missed opportunities to refer patient to hospital under suspected cancer pathway

What happened

Mr D's daughter, Miss D, complained that her father's GP Practice did not appropriately investigate his symptoms of pain and urinary tract infections over a nine–month period.

Miss D said this caused her father's death because his cancer was undiagnosed for so long.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. There were no failings in the Practice's actions in the first seven months of Mr D's care. However, in the final two months the Practice missed two opportunities to refer Mr D to hospital under the two–week suspected cancer pathway. Although the diagnosis was slightly complicated by Mr D's long–standing medical problems, a number of symptoms indicated he had recurrent urinary tract infections.

On the basis of Mr D's age, recurrent urinary tract infections and blood in his urine, he should have been referred to hospital on the two–week cancer pathway.

It was highly unlikely that Mr D's cancer could have been cured even if it had been diagnosed two months sooner. However, the Practice's actions meant that Mr D could not access end–of–life care as soon as he should have been able to. This caused distress to Mr D and his family, who will never know whether he could have lived longer or had a better quality of life if he had been diagnosed sooner.

Putting it right

The Practice apologised to Miss D and paid her £1,000. It also prepared an action plan to show how the Practice had learnt from the complaint.