GP complained about trust's investigation

What happened

When Mr K, one of Dr L's patients, died of cancer, Dr L helped his family to complain about delays in diagnosing his illness. Much of the complaint focused on Mr K's management at a pain clinic Dr L had referred him to. The Trust that managed the pain clinic initially dealt with the complaint without involving the acute hospital trust where the clinic was located. When the acute hospital trust became involved, it carried out an internal investigation and shared this with the original Trust, which shared it in full with Dr L.

Dr L was very unhappy because the report suggested that the delay in Mr K's diagnosis was caused by failings across the whole primary and secondary care pathway. She also felt the report criticised her for not arranging a particular scan, although she said that access to such scans was limited for GPs at the time.

What we found

We found no evidence that Dr L should have acted any differently under the clinical circumstances. On that basis, it was unreasonable for the Trust's investigation to suggest that there were also primary care failings in Mr K's management.

Putting it right

The Trust wrote to Dr L to apologise.