Miss G said she was forced to register at a different practice which is further away and which has a limited bus service. She also said that her reputation had been tarnished.
What happened
Miss G tried to book a GP appointment for her son but there was none available. The Practice subsequently found a slot and tried to contact Miss G at her mother's home. Miss G complained to the Practice manager that her confidentiality had been breached as she did not live at her mother's.
The Practice manager said because Miss G was abusive it would be better if she registered at another GP Practice. A letter was then sent to Miss G giving her 30 days in which to find a new GP.
What we found
It was reasonable that the Practice tried to contact Miss G at her mother's because she had given this telephone number as an emergency contact. We also found that Miss G was abusive to reception staff. However, the Practice should have warned Miss G about her behaviour before it decided to remove her as a patient. This is set out in The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004.
The failure to warn Miss G meant that she was not given the opportunity to change her behaviour and remain as a patient. This meant she had to register for GP services elsewhere, which was inconvenient for her.
Putting it right
The Practice wrote to Miss G, to acknowledge and apologise for the failings in how it dealt with her removal from its list. It paid her £200 in recognition of the injustice she suffered, and developed an action plan detailing how it will improve its handling of patient removals in the future.
A GP practice
Norfolk
Came to an unsound decision
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss
Recommendation to learn lessons or draw up an action plan