GP carried out inadequate home visit and did not arrange follow up for Mr B who died soon after

What happened

Mr B had multiple health issues but had to wait 24 hours for a home visit. His GP, Dr C, visited and made some changes to Mr B's medication. Mr B was admitted to hospital and died later that month.

What we found

There were failings in how the medical centre that Mrs A contacted prioritised her visit request and in the time taken for the visit to take place.

At the visit itself, Dr C saw Mr B but did not carry out, or arrange, appropriate investigations, monitoring, or review visits. There was also poor record keeping.

However, this visit did not result in a long delay in Mr B getting treatment, because he was admitted to hospital.

Putting it right

The medical centre apologised for the injustice caused by the faults identified and paid Mrs A £1,000 in recognition of the pain and distress she and her family experienced. It produced an action plan to document how it will address the faults found and what will be done to prevent the same thing happening again.