GP practice failed to follow its triage protocol

What happened

Mr G was suffering from chest pains and tried to book an appointment to see his GP. He telephoned the GP practice but was told that there were no appointments that day and that he should contact it again the next day, which he did.

The following week Mr G visited a local hospital. He was told that the hospital would contact his GP that day to ask for an ultrasound referral. However, the GP practice did not receive the request until two days later.

What we found

The practice operates a triage system for booking GP appointments and has in place a duty doctor listing protocol. This protocol says it is imperative that the receptionist establishes the patient's symptoms or problems. If the patient has a serious health problem, such as acute chest pain, the receptionist must alert the duty doctor immediately.

The receptionist who spoke to Mr G did not ask him why he wanted to see his GP and what his health problem was. Therefore, the practice failed to follow its own protocol. We decided to partly uphold Mr G's complaint because, although we found failings, we felt that he did not suffer as a result because he saw his GP the next day.

The GP practice dealt with the referral request in a timely manner. It received the request two days after Mr G's visit to hospital and made the ultrasound referral the same day. We saw no evidence that the hospital sent the request any earlier. We therefore did not uphold this part of Mr G's complaint.

Putting it right

The practice wrote to Mr G describing what it had done to make sure that reception staff follow the triage protocol.