GP practice sent patient an unreasonable warning

What happened

Mr H visited the Practice to get a medical report for his son. He was told the report had not been completed and that it could not be completed until the Practice manager returned from leave. Mr H told staff he was unhappy with this, and they eventually gave him the report.

The following week Mr H received a letter from the Practice manager warning him about 'intimidation and demanding behaviour'. Mr H complained to staff about the letter. The Practice got a number of statements from staff and said these referred to his 'intimidating manner, aggressive tone'.

Mr H decided to move to a different GP practice. He then met with the first Practice to discuss the issue, but neither party felt this resolved anything, and so he complained to us.

What we found

The Practice did not gather written statements from staff until after Mr H made a formal complaint. Although some of the statements made reference to Mr H being 'threatening' and 'verbally abusive', we found no evidence to support this.

The only recorded comments in the statements provided to us were that Mr H said: 'that's unacceptable' and 'incompetence'. We therefore did not agree that this showed Mr H had been threatening or verbally abusive. If the Practice had simply warned Mr H that staff had been intimidated by his manner, this would arguably have been reasonable. However, its warning made allegations about his behaviour that were not supported by the evidence.

The basis of the warning given to Mr H was therefore unreasonable.

Putting it right

The Practice apologised to Mr H and also wrote to his new Practice to make it aware of this.