GP complaint

[Ghostranch]

I think the GP Practice were following procedure, in asking the doctor concerned to talk to you one to one, before escalating the complaint to HR

Thank you for responding. I'm not convinced they did ask her to call me. I think she did it of her own accord. I consider it unprofessional and feel it emphasised the power imbalance. She was prepared for the phonecall, I was not. She also rang at a time when she knew I was waiting to speak to another doctor, therefore ensuring I answered. She created a situation where I had no choice but to engage with her and I felt ambushed. I would not have consented to a phonecall had I been asked.

 

[Ghostranch]

I acknowledge your distress, and your views about fairness. I am happy with my opinion. My views are my own, and you invited them

Your distress reflects your experience, which is valid. But that does not mean that it is justified. The Ombudsman is likely to judge that your distress was an over-reaction in the circumstances. They will view your unwillingness to engage with reasonable attempts to resolve your concerns without recourse to formal measures as potentially vexatious.

It is a reasonable expectation that you will be contacted - in the first instance - by the person who might be best placed to try and resolve your concerns informally. My extensive experience in this arena means that I know that the Ombudsman does not look favourably on complainants that refuse to engage with reasonable attempts to resolve a complaint.

You asked for opinions, and mine is that the Ombudsman will not uphold your complaint. On the contrary, they will refer you back to the GP practice and encourage you to engage positively with their attempts to address your concerns before you escalate matters.

Also, if you expect a thorough response, you should not expect it if you are only sharing partial details of your complaint. Give someone half a puzzle, and they are unlikely to complete it

I have no problem with you expressing your opinion, I just don't agree with it and I'm allowed to express that.

There is nothing vexatious about my complaint. I have engaged fully with their procedure. I was told by the practice manager that they would investigate and get back to me. At no point did they say I would receive a phonecall from the person I complained about. I made it very clear that I have lost trust in this person. I also requested to see a different doctor going forward. Therefore why would I welcome contact from them? This person caused me physical and mental harm, so I would disagree they are the best person to resolve it. The practice manager should have acted as an intermediary, which is what I thought would happen.

Also, the practice manager should have asked if I was ok to receive a phonecall from the person I complained about and a mutually convenient time should have been arranged if I agreed. The doctor was prepared for the call, I was not. That widens the power imbalance that already exists between doctor and patient. I was expecting a call from a different doctor about blood results and therefore was already in a heightened state. The timing of the call was, quite frankly, shitty.

If the doctor truly wanted to apologise and go through other points with me they would have created a safe opportunity for this. Instead they ambushed me.

The practice manager has acknowledged that not everyone would welcome an unexpected phonecall. However, their solution to seek consent about contact from people that THEY judge might be distressed is laughable. How can they possibly judge this? Why not just seek consent from everyone as standard, therefore ensuring their complaints process is safe and inclusive?

The practice manager has given me their final response and told me to contact the Ombudsman if I am not happy with the outcome or their handling of the complaint. I have engaged fully with their process. After the unexpected phonecall I requested all contact to be via email and engaged fully this way. You are incorrect that the Ombudsman would refer me back to the practice to resolve matters because as far as the practice manager is concerned, it's over. They have shut down the conversation, not me. They have suggested escalation if I'm not happy.

I appreciate that I cannot receive fully-informed responses as I have not shared all details. But it would be pretty stupid of me to share everything on a public forum. I suppose I shouldn't have asked for opinions on whether to take this further, just on the appropriateness of the unexpected call. You clearly think it was appropriate but nothing you have said has convinced me that it was.

Anyway, thank you for sharing your opinion. It has helped me to feel much clearer about certain things. But I will not be engaging in any further discussions with you.

 

[Ghostranch]

I understand how difficult it would be for you to accept the apology and "move on" because things have not gone according to your plan and the issue has not been satisfactorily resolved in your eyes.

Speaking as someone who is not autistic I think you should weigh up whether you want to remain at that practice or move elsewhere and start afresh because will you ever feel comfortable running the risk of further contact with that particular GP if you need an emergency appointment at any time in the future? GPs are very busy and this GP will consider the matter closed after apologising personally to you fro the mistake.

Thank you. I'm definitely not staying there! Don't trust any of them.

 

[Ghostranch]

Why would the person best placed to try & resolve the concerns informally, be the same person the complaint was made about? Wouldn't the best person be a different person, ideally a manager type in the practice who has a 3rd person view of the situation?

Exactly! The GP is not impartial. My expectation was that the manager would be an intermediary. I thought that the point of addressing complaints to the manager (as per their policy) was to ensure the protection of both parties during the complaints process. Instead I have been caused further harm and the GP has an additional complaint against them.

 

[Rosie glow]

I'm so sorry. Doctors bury their mistakes...sometimes literally which is tragic. It's exhausting trying to take on the medical profession.

Thank you it is exhausting you're so right

 

[Django]

Of course. I accepted their apology about the misread blood results. What I did not accept was their inadequate response to other aspects of my complaint.

I don't think I understand this now. In your original post you said that you refused to discuss the additional aspects of your complaint.

 

[Ghostranch]

You have asked for opinions so I am sharing mine. It will be unpopular, but I guess that's the downside of asking for people's views.

You sound completely unreasonable to me. You complained about someone, yet are now complaining about them trying to resolve it by contacting you. You can't make a complaint and then try to control the efforts to explore and resolve it. It is entirely reasonable for someone to try and resolve a complaint informally in the first instance by speaking to you about it.

The ombudsman will not uphold your complaint. You can't control and micro-manage every interaction in life.

Yes I have invited people's opinions but I don't think your response is particularly fair. This has been an incredibly distressing experience for me. And you have no idea if it would be upheld or not as I have not disclosed the full details of my complaint or their response.

 

[Ghostranch]

Hello,

Sorry, this will be long!

I recently made a complaint about my GP for various reasons, including misreading my blood test results. Then, a couple of weeks ago, when I was waiting for a phonecall from a different doctor, the one I complained about called me out of the blue to "apologise" for misreading my results and "go through" the other points I raised.

I felt incredibly blindsided by this call, and completely uncomfortable. I felt I had no choice but to listen to her "apology", even though I did not want to be speaking to her at all. I refused to go through the other points and said I wanted something in writing.

I then put in an additional complaint about this call, stating I felt it was inappropriate and that it had caused me additional harm. The person handling my complaint insisted that it is standard for doctors to make unsolicited, unexpected phonecalls to people who have complained about them and that this is usually well-received and appreciated.

I responded saying I was shocked by this and do not believe the majority of people would be happy to receive an unexpected phonecall from someone they have complained about. I also pointed out that I am autistic and have anxiety, which further made it difficult for me to handle this situation.

Their response to this was that, in the future, they "may" write to people before calling them if they "think" the person may find an unexpected phonecall distressing.

Now I'm considering taking my complaint to the Ombudsman but just wanted to know what others think of this situation. Am I being unreasonable regarding the unexpected phonecall? Would you have been happy to receive an unexpected call from someone you have complained about?

And should I escalate this complaint? I'm just so angry about their response and personally think they should get consent before the complained about person directly contacts the one who made the complaint!

 

[Ghostranch]

A GP is a human being just like you and I. They are under a serious about of pressure on a daily basis to get everything right.
Yes a mistake was made and it could have had serious repercussions.
I would accept the apology and find a new GP if you want

Of course. I accepted their apology about the misread blood results. What I did not accept was their inadequate response to other aspects of my complaint.

 

[Ghostranch]

I don't think I understand this now. In your original post you said that you refused to discuss the additional aspects of your complaint.

I refused to discuss it on the phone and said I wanted further communication in writing. The practice manager sent an email responding to the other points and closed the conversation down, basically saying this is our stance, if you don't like it take it to the Ombudsman.