GP failed to respond to a written complaint

What happened

Ms D wrote to her GP Practice to complain that it did not tell her about her status as a temporary patient, which led to her being excluded from funding for fertility treatment. In consequence, she had to fund two unsuccessful rounds of fertility treatment herself.

Because Ms D had already written to the Practice with a slightly different complaint, the Practice took the view that it had dealt with her concerns already. She received a letter in response that said the Practice was satisfied there was no further complaint to answer.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The Practice was not obliged to warn Ms D that she was a temporary patient at its surgery because she was already a permanent patient at another Practice. Because of this, the GP Practice was not responsible for her ineligibility for fertility treatment funding. It should have written to her to explain this.

Its letter to say it had already dealt with this issue was inaccurate.

Putting it right

The Practice apologised to Ms D for not addressing her latest complaint.