Home > Publications > Selected Cases - Health >
Selected Investigations Completed December 2000March 2001 > Part I, Case no. E.1934/99-00
Complaint against: GP in the Kingston & Richmond Health Authority area
Summary of case
The Ombudsman upheld a complaint by Mr N that his former GP, Dr Y, had unreasonably removed him from his patient list. On 6 September 1999, Mr N was informed that he had been removed from Dr Y’s list. He was later told by Dr Y that that was because he lived outside the practice boundary. As Mr N had lived at the same address for twelve years, he was dissatisfied with the GP’s explanation: he believed that he had been removed from Dr Y’s list at the instigation of administrative staff at the practice. During the Ombudsman’s investigation, Dr Y said that he had removed Mr N from his list because of the poor relationship between Mr N and the practice. The Ombudsman found that there was evidence of that but concluded that Dr Y had acted precipitately in not discussing the matter with Mr N before deciding to remove him from his list. He recommended that Dr Y reconsider his practice in this regard. The Ombudsman also recommended that Dr Y should in future usually write to patients giving the reasons why they have been removed from the list. Dr Y apologised and agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendations.
Previous < Contents > Next
Back to top
|
