NHS England addressed its complaint handling

What happened

Mr J was a patient at GP Practice 1. He had concerns about his access to services, his medication, and the attitude of a GP. He also felt that the Practice had treated him differently because of his sexuality. Mr J then became a patient at GP Practice 2 and said they had prescribed him the wrong medication. He also had concerns about a GP's attitude.

Mr J complained to the NHS England Area Team about both Practices. The Area Team investigated Mr J's concerns and responded to him. Mr J then complained about how the Area Team had handled his complaint.

What we found

We did not uphold this complaint. The Area Team handled its investigation of the Practices reasonably, and ultimately provided Mr J with an appropriate report of its findings.

However, the Area Team's initial response to Mr J contained no analysis of its investigation into the GP Practices, and consequently it did not explain its decisions to him. It also did not report on some recommended remedial actions it had suggested.

There were some delays in the Area Team's response to Mr J's complaint which had resulted from a misunderstanding. It apologised for this and went on to make sure that it carried out subsequent responses promptly. We were satisfied with this action.

Putting it right

In the Area Team's final response to Mr J, there was a change to a more narrative style and there was an analysis of its investigation. This suggested that NHS England had adopted a more customer–focused approach. Our view was that this action pre–empted any recommendations we might have made to resolve our concern about a lack of explanation, and that as such the Area Team had already reasonably addressed this failing.