Clinical treatment outside hospital; GP : A GP Practice in the area of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Report Date 07/02/2024 Case Against A GP Practice in the area of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Subject Clinical treatment outside hospital; GP Case Reference Number 202307376 Outcome Early resolution Ms Y complained about the care a GP Practice in the area of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, had provided to her. She specifically complained about comments made to her when she contacted the practice about her symptoms and said that the Practice did not provide appropriate support when she contacted it about pain management due to her diagnosis of endometriosis in December 2022 and February 2023. She complained that the Practice should have referred her to a specialist tertiary endometriosis centre, rather than referring her to gynaecology services to assess her. Finally, Ms Y complained that there were gaps in her records, as documents sent following an out of hours appointment and from a hospital outside of the Health Board were not present. She said the complaint response she had received did not address this concern and instead referred to historic documents.
The assessment of Ms Y’s complaint identified that the care provided following her concerns about pain management was within the range of appropriate clinical practice. It also identified that the Health Board has a contract with the tertiary endometriosis centre for referrals to come from the gynaecology service and it was reasonable that the Practice did not refer her directly. The assessment also identified that the initial complaint response Ms Y received did not address her concern about why there were documents missing from her records.
The Practice agreed to issue Ms Y with a further complaint response to apologise for not addressing her concern in its initial response and to address her concern about documents missing from her records. The Ombudsman considered this was a reasonable way to resolve Ms Y’s complaint and it was closed on this basis.