Daughter complained about her late father's care

What happened

Mr A had a number of health concerns. GPs used to visit him at home when he could not go to the Practice.

Ms H complained that during these home visits, the GPs did not fully consider Mr A's symptoms to see if he needed to be admitted to hospital. She said that Mr A later fell at home twice and was admitted to hospital each time. Ms H felt that if the doctors had properly assessed her father, he would have been admitted earlier and the falls at home avoided.

On the second admission to hospital, Mr A died.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The GP home visits and assessments were generally thorough, and on the whole did not indicate Mr A needed to go to hospital. However, in the light of Mr's A conditions and symptoms, which included feeling faint, the GPs should have checked his blood pressure. The correct sized blood pressure cuffs were not available at the time of these home visits.

Practice staff could have acted on a blood test result sooner, and doctors could have considered admitting Mr A to hospital, but he was taken to hospital later that day.

Overall, we did not consider that these issues would have prolonged Mr A's life.

Putting it right

The Practice acknowledged and apologised for the failings. It also reviewed its training for all clinical staff around blood pressure checks and blood test identification. The Practice is investing in additional blood pressure cuffs. One GP agreed to discuss our report at her annual appraisal.