Mr C attended another appointment at the practice soon after and then was subsequently phoned by the practice manager and told that the practice would no longer treat him and that his notes were being sent to Practitioner Services.


Mr C subsequently complained to the Ombudsman and his case was investigated. Dr Y was able to justify her actions in regard to Mr C on clinical grounds – she had found no cause in his examination to suggest Mr C was suffering a serious heart attack thus emergency treatment had not been warranted. But fault was found with the practice on a number of other counts. Mr C’s concerns over his treatment could have been addressed in the response letter or better in a face-to-face meeting rather than being simply dismissed as groundless. GMC guidance on dealing with complaints as set out in Good Medical Practice states:


“Patients who complain about the care and treatment they receive have a right to expect a prompt, open, constructive and honest response. This will include an explanation of what has happened.”


In this the practice was clearly at fault and was criticised in the Ombudsman’s report.


The Ombudsman also investigated the apparent removal of Mr C from the practice list. In discussions with the practice manager it was pointed out that NHS regulations state that, other than where the patient is violent, in most cases a warning of risk of removal should be sent to the patient and written records kept of the circumstances leading up to this decision. In answer to this the manager claimed that Mr C had only been advised that due to the breakdown in trust it was in his best interests to seek treatment elsewhere. Mr C had in effect removed himself from the practice list.


For this the practice was also criticised not only in that the terms of the letter sent to Mr C certainly suggested that he had been removed from the list but also that this action seemed to be on the grounds that he had simply lodged a complaint. Again, Good Medical Practice states: “You should not end relationships with patients solely because they have made a complaint about you or the team…”


Complaint handling | 15


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