NHS England failed to address a grieving widow's unanswered questions

Summary 619 |

Mrs B complained to GP practice and NHS England about the care her late husband received in the final weeks of his life.


What happened

Mr B died of cancer in March 2014. His widow made a number of complaints about the care given by his GP in his final weeks. Mrs B was not satisfied with the GP's response and complained to NHS England. After receiving NHS England's reply she asked further questions, which NHS England declined to answer. Mrs B complained to us about this.

What we found

Mr B's GP provided a good standard of care. We did not find any failings on the GP's part. NHS England's first complaint response was reasonable, but it failed to answer Mrs B's reasonable follow–up questions. We partly upheld the complaint about NHS England, and did not uphold the complaint about the GP Practice.

Putting it right

As a result of our findings NHS England apologised to Mrs B and agreed to explain what action it would take to prevent this from happening again.

Health or Parliamentary
Health
Organisations we investigated

A GP practice

Lancashire Area Team

Location

Lancashire

Complainants' concerns ?

Replied with inaccurate or incomplete information

Result

Apology