Ms L complained about the care and treatment given to her late mother, Mrs M, in the last few months of her life. Ms L said her mother was alcohol–dependent. She said that the practice considered she had 'brought the problems on herself', and did not provide good care. Ms L also said that the practice's poor complaint handling added to her distress, and the practice was not open and honest about what had happened.
What happened
In spring 2013 Mrs M's brother asked the practice for a home visit because Mrs M was very unwell, had been drinking heavily and did not feel able to leave the house.
The practice visited Mrs M at home and arranged an urgent referral to the local hospital because there was a possibility she had a form of gastrointestinal cancer. Mrs M contacted the hospital and cancelled the appointment as she was too anxious to have an endoscopy procedure without general anaesthetic. The practice asked for an appointment for Mrs M to have the procedure under anaesthetic.
During this time Mrs M was having a home detox programme supported by the local substance misuse team. She had withdrawal symptoms, but clinicians considered that these were a normal part of the detox programme.
Staff from the substance misuse team asked the practice for a home visit for Mrs M because of concerns about her deteriorating health. The practice did not visit and Mrs M died soon after.
Mrs M's family complained to the practice. The practice did not provide a written response to the complaint until we asked it to in autumn 2013. Ms L was not satisfied with the response and we agreed to investigate her complaint.
What we found
We had no concerns about the clinical care the practice gave Mrs M. While we could not say that the practice should definitely have visited Mrs M, we felt that staff did not do enough to find out about Mrs M's condition before deciding not to visit.
However, we had concerns about record keeping at the practice. Details of a GP's conversation with staff from the substance misuse team were not recorded at the time but were added to Mrs M's notes nearly seven months later.
The practice was not open and transparent in the way it dealt with Ms L's complaint. Having added a late entry to Mrs M's records, it relied heavily on this entry in its complaint response. The response itself was inaccurate and was not consistent with Mrs M's medical records. The practice should have provided a full written response to the complaint much sooner than it did.
Putting it right
The practice apologised to Mrs M's family that it did not follow up the request from the substance misuse team and that it did not do more to find out about Mrs M's condition on the day. The practice also apologised for its inaccurate complaint response. It paid Mrs M's family £1,000 compensation, and the GP shared our report with her responsible officer.
A GP practice
A GP practice
Staffordshire
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Did not involve complainant adequately in the process
Replied with inaccurate or incomplete information
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss
Other