Mr B's daughter, Mrs A, complained that there was a delay in his GP visiting him, that his assessment was poor and that there was no follow up.
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.
A medical centre
Lancashire
Delayed replying to complaint
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Did not keep proper records or audit trail
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss
Recommendation to learn lessons or draw up an action plan