Summary
Mrs C attended two consultations with the practice who had recently taken over from her previous practice. She had attended her previous practice five years earlier after she had experienced an increase in epileptic seizures.
Mrs C complained that, during these two consultations, the practice unreasonably focussed on the events of five years previously. She raised concerns that the practice placed undue focus on the reporting requirements of the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) and she found it difficult to get her health concerns across. Mrs C also complained that, during the first consultation, she was unreasonably prescribed the wrong dosage of epilepsy medication.
We found that the first of the two consultations was Mrs C's first with the practice altogether, following them taking over the running of her local practice. Her prior consultation with her previous practice noted concerns about the management of her epilepsy and an intention to notify the DVLA. We took independent medical advice from a GP, who confirmed that DVLA guidance requires patients with epilepsy to notify them. We considered that it was reasonable for the practice to discuss Mrs C's epilepsy and DVLA reporting requirements during her consultations. Therefore, we did not uphold this aspect of Mrs C's complaint.
Mrs C also complained that she was prescribed the wrong dosage of her epilepsy medication. We found that there had been a prescribing error and that the practice did not address this when responding to Mrs C's complaint. Therefore, we upheld this aspect of Mrs C's complaint. However, we noted that the practice acknowledged that the error was their fault and that this was fixed before any medication was actually issued.
Recommendations
What we asked the organisation to do in this case: Apologise to Mrs C for the prescribing error and for failing to address her complaint about this.The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at: https://www.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.
We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201700995 as a PDF (12.59 KB) Updated: December 2, 2018