GP deputising service cases are "cause for concern," says ombudsman
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《英国医生杂志》
England抯 health service ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has expressed alarm at the number of serious cases involving GP deputising services that she has seen in the past six months.
The quality of care, communication with patients, and record keeping in these cases are a "cause for concern," she says in her latest investigations into complaints against the NHS, published this week
In one case a 32 year old man from London rapidly deteriorated with meningococcal septicaemia as he waited five hours for the on-call GP to visit. Although the GP was gravely concerned about the patient, he not only failed to administer the appropriate antibiotic to a man with florid signs of septicaemia but also failed in his duty of care by not waiting with the patient until the ambulance arrived, the ombudsman found. The young man died in hospital shortly afterwards.
Although it is difficult to predict if early intervention would have changed the outcome, an opportunity for the man to make a recovery had been lost, the report says. The GP in question is now under a supervised education plan following the ombudsman抯 recommendations.
The catalogue of 31 cases completed between October 2003 and March 2004 was selected by the ombudsman to illustrate what can happen when things go wrong. It is intended to be used as a tool to urge health professionals to read, reflect, and learn from them, so that mistakes of the past are not repeated, the report says.
Apart from the cases involving the deputising service, six cases were selected to highlight poor nursing care, nine to show poor handling of complaints, and five to show the effect of poor planning of care of patients discharged from hospital.
In an example of one such case, an elderly man who was discharged home at a time when his carers were on holiday and without the knowledge of his immediate family. While at home he became ill and eventually died alone after a heart attack. His son lodged the complaint, arguing that, as the elderly man抯 main carer, he should have been involved with discharge planning. The ombudsman agreed.
The health service ombudsman has been handling clinical complaints and complaints against GPs since 1996, when the role was extended to cover these areas. More than 4500 complaints were received by the ombudsman up to March of this year, up from 3994 the previous year.
The report adds that if more attention was paid to clear and comprehensive communication between health professionals, patients, and families, plus full and accurate documentation, then many complaints brought against the NHS could be avoided.(London Debashis Singh)
The quality of care, communication with patients, and record keeping in these cases are a "cause for concern," she says in her latest investigations into complaints against the NHS, published this week
In one case a 32 year old man from London rapidly deteriorated with meningococcal septicaemia as he waited five hours for the on-call GP to visit. Although the GP was gravely concerned about the patient, he not only failed to administer the appropriate antibiotic to a man with florid signs of septicaemia but also failed in his duty of care by not waiting with the patient until the ambulance arrived, the ombudsman found. The young man died in hospital shortly afterwards.
Although it is difficult to predict if early intervention would have changed the outcome, an opportunity for the man to make a recovery had been lost, the report says. The GP in question is now under a supervised education plan following the ombudsman抯 recommendations.
The catalogue of 31 cases completed between October 2003 and March 2004 was selected by the ombudsman to illustrate what can happen when things go wrong. It is intended to be used as a tool to urge health professionals to read, reflect, and learn from them, so that mistakes of the past are not repeated, the report says.
Apart from the cases involving the deputising service, six cases were selected to highlight poor nursing care, nine to show poor handling of complaints, and five to show the effect of poor planning of care of patients discharged from hospital.
In an example of one such case, an elderly man who was discharged home at a time when his carers were on holiday and without the knowledge of his immediate family. While at home he became ill and eventually died alone after a heart attack. His son lodged the complaint, arguing that, as the elderly man抯 main carer, he should have been involved with discharge planning. The ombudsman agreed.
The health service ombudsman has been handling clinical complaints and complaints against GPs since 1996, when the role was extended to cover these areas. More than 4500 complaints were received by the ombudsman up to March of this year, up from 3994 the previous year.
The report adds that if more attention was paid to clear and comprehensive communication between health professionals, patients, and families, plus full and accurate documentation, then many complaints brought against the NHS could be avoided.(London Debashis Singh)