Failure to carry out an appropriate medical assessment by telephone

What happened

Mrs A complained about the treatment provided to her late brother, Mr K,

who suffered from a range of serious health problems. Mrs A said the Medical Centre failed to recognise the seriousness of her brother's symptoms and take the appropriate action.

Mrs A said that due to the failings, her brother died at home in distressing circumstances. Family members were severely affected after discovering him dead.

What we found

There were failings in the care provided to Mr K. His GP did not appropriately review Mr K several days before his death. The assessment via telephone did not gather enough information or complete a suitable clinical history. The failure to do so was a missed opportunity to complete a full evaluation of Mr K.

However we were unable to say what would have happened had Mr K been fully assessed at this time.

Mr K also had a blood test taken the day before his death. No immediate action was taken by his GP following the results of this test. The results did not indicate that immediate action was required.

Putting it right

The medical centre apologised to Mrs A for its failings in this case. We recommended that it explain to her what it has done to make sure it has learnt from this, and that this does not reoccur in the future.