A practice in the Cornwall area

5. Mrs G complains about aspects of the care and treatment she received from a GP Practice in Cornwall (the Practice). Specifically, she complains the Practice:

• failed to diagnose her collapsed nasal valve • failed to inform her she was being seen by an advanced nurse practitioner and not a doctor • provided inaccurate medical information about her MRI scan • did not chase her medical results for over nine months and • did not consider her claustrophobia or offer to provide sedation for her scan.

6. Mrs G says as a result of these failings, she suffered anxiety, distress, and night terrors. She said she was embarrassed, and she had to stop working. She said she suffered claustrophobia and was forced to travel abroad for treatment. Mrs G said she had to pay over £15,000 for the surgery and travel to South Africa which has caused her financial hardship. She now struggles to receive follow up care as her surgeon is abroad which causes her distress and risk to recovery. She has lost trust with the practice and the relationship with the practice has broken down.

7. As an outcome to her complaint, Mrs G seeks an apology from the Practice, and to be reimbursed for the £15,000 she spent for her travel and surgery in South Africa. She also seeks additional financial remedy for the pain and suffering she endured as well as remedy for further travel to South Africa for post-operative review. She seeks service improvements and for her neurologist referral to be expedited.

8. What follows is a summary of events. We have not included all the details as those involved are already aware of this information. However, we have included this information to put this complaint into context.

9. Mrs G has been suffering with breathing difficulties, claustrophobia and facial nerve issues. Mrs G was diagnosed with a bilateral nasal valve collapse in June 2024.

10. Mrs G raised concerns with the Practice in June 2024, and the Practice provided its final response in June 2024.

11. On 20 May 2025, Mrs G underwent private surgery in South Africa for her collapsed nasal valve.

12. Mrs G complained to us in September 2025.

The Practice

15. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is good reason to do so.

16. Mrs G told us she became aware of the matters she is complaining about in April 2024. She complained to the Practice in June 2024 and received a final response two weeks later in June 2024. We can see the Practice signposted Mrs G to our service and informed her there was a time limit in bringing the complaint to us. Mrs G complained to us in September 2025, five months outside of our time limit. We have considered Mrs G’s reasons for not bringing the complaint to us sooner.

17. Mrs G says she was actively pursuing her complaint during the 12-month period. She provided evidence she contacted her Member of Parliament (MP) in April 2025, and her MP’s office contacted the Practice in April 2025 to request medical records on her behalf. She also says she submitted the complaint form to the MP’s office in August 2025, and further delay was due to the parliamentary referral process.

18. We recognise Mrs G took steps to progress her concerns during this period. While we acknowledge Mrs G contacted her MP in April 2025, we understand she was aware of our time limit and understood she could have approached us directly without needing to involve a MP.

19. Mrs G also says the delay was due to a medical emergency, and she underwent major surgery in South Africa in May 2025.

20. We recognise this was a serious and difficult period for Mrs G, and we acknowledge the impact this may have had on her ability to pursue her complaint.

21. However, the relevant period of delay begins from the Practice’s final response in June 2024. The surgery took place in May 2025, which is 11 months after the final response was received. This reason does not fully explain why the complaint was not brought to us earlier within the 12-month time limit.

22. Mrs G also said the Practice’s response did not make the time limit sufficiently clear. We have considered this. We can see, the response did include our contact details and make reference to a time limit. In the circumstances, we would expect a person who remained dissatisfied with the service provided to them to contact us within a reasonable period.

23. Overall, the complaint is approximately five months outside of our time limit. While Mrs G has drawn our attention to some circumstances which caused delay, we do not consider they were so significant as to account for this whole period of time. We have not identified any mitigating or exceptional circumstances which would allow us to set the time limit aside for Mrs G’s complaint about the Practice, and for this reason we are unable to consider her concerns further.

24. We recognise this will be disappointing for Mrs G, given the ongoing concerns she has and the impact this has had on her wellbeing.

Conclusion

25. Mrs G brought her complaint to us in September 2025, almost five months outside of our time limit.

26. We have carefully considered the reasons she has given for the delay. Including her medical circumstances and the steps she took to pursue her concerns through her MP.

27. While we recognise the difficulties experienced by Mrs G, we note that during this period Mrs G was able to correspond with multiple organisations, her local MP as well as arranging and undergoing international surgery. This shows that although things were very challenging, she was not prevented from bringing her complaint to us sooner.

28. For these reasons, we have decided the time between June 2024 and September 2025 cannot reasonably be set aside. Mrs G had our details during this period and could reasonably have contacted us. We have therefore decided not to take any further action on this complaint.

29. Furthermore, Mrs G has raised further concerns with the Practice, and as local resolution is ongoing, we are unable to look into it further at this time.

30. We were very sorry to hear of the distress Mrs G has experienced. It has been a very difficult period, and we understand how much this complaint means to her. It is important we consider and act within the law and we regret any further upset this decision may cause. We hope this statement clearly explains the reasons we will not be considering the complaint further.

Further concerns about the Practice

31. In her complaint to us, Mrs G raised further concerns against the Practice; however, these components were not yet ready for us as she had not formally complained to the Practice or received a formal response. Therefore, the scope of the complaint has been limited to the concerns she raised with the Practice in June 2024, and for which she received a final response.

32. We asked Mrs G whether she had made any further formal complaints to the Practice, and she said she had been making informal complaints over the phone and via email. We asked the Practice and it confirmed it had only received one formal complaint from Mrs G in June 2024. It also confirmed an informal complaint from February 2025, and this was resolved over the phone.

33. We advised Mrs G she needed to raise her further concerns with the Practice and obtain a final response before we could look at any incidents occurring after June 2024. The Practice also confirmed in writing it would be willing to look into Mrs G’s further concerns and provide a written response.

34. Mrs G sent a formal complaint to the Practice with her outstanding concerns, which was acknowledged by the Practice. As local resolution is still ongoing, we would be unable to look at Mrs G’s further concerns about the Practice during this time.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs G’s complaint about the care and treatment she received from a GP Practice in Cornwall (the Practice). We are sorry to hear how Mrs G has been affected by the care and treatment she has received regarding her ongoing health concerns. It is clear she has had a difficult and upsetting experience.

2. After considering the information provided by Mrs G, we have decided the concerns she has raised fall outside our time limit. We have not seen sufficient reason to put this to one side. Furthermore, there are elements of Mrs G’s complaint which are not yet ready for us.

3. We will explain the reasons for our decision in this statement.

4. Complaints give us valuable insights into the organisations we investigate, so we would like to thank Mrs G for sharing her experience with us. It is important to acknowledge that all though we are unable to look at the concerns she has raised, this does not detract from the experience she had, or the impact this had on her.