How to make a complaint following GP negligence

You can make a complaint about GP negligence if:

• You specifically received services from the healthcare professional involved

• You are someone who is affected, or likely to be affected, by the action, omission or decision of the GP in question

You can also make a complaint on behalf of someone else who received the negligent care in the following situations:

• They are under the age of 16 and they cannot make a complaint by themselves

• They have passed away

• They are incapable of complaining themselves either physically or mentally

• They have specifically asked you to complain on their behalf

It is worth highlighting immediately that making a complaint following negligence by your GP is not a route to securing compensation. In order to be compensated for any pain, injury, loss or damage you endure as a result of negligent care, you should reach out to specialist medical negligence solicitors to make a claim.

However, despite this not being a route to compensation, there are still several reasons why you might launch a formal complaint for the treatment you received:

To receive an explanation for what happened

For many of our past clients, their interest in gaining answers for their suffering is often as strong as their interest in securing compensation. That closure can be a huge weight off of the mind, and give them the motivation to move past this incident.

Writing a letter of complaint can also encourage the GP or hospital in question to provide you with an explanation of what occurred, although this is not a guaranteed outcome. For some, the answers and apologies they receive in response are all they are looking for.

To make the GP or hospital aware of your treatment

If you are concerned that the negligent care that you received has gone under the radar, writing a letter of complaint can help bring the issue to the attention of your GP.

By doing so, you can help ensure that those responsible for your poor treatment are held accountable and that others in the same organisation are aware of your situation. This can then result in further internal action against those involved, although that is not certain to happen following a complaint.

To help prevent the same mistake happening again

When sending a formal letter of complaint about GP negligence, many people’s primary motive is to prevent the same circumstances that they faced happening to someone else later on. By making this apparent in your complaint, you can encourage the GP or their wider organisation to investigate what happened and explore ways to improve their processes.

Many GPs and hospitals will use complaints as learning tools, so they can spot any problems in their current practices and rectify these moving forward. In this way, your letter of complaint may play a key role in protecting the wellbeing of future patients.

At every GP surgery, NHS or otherwise, there has to be a procedure for how they deal with complaints, and someone who is responsible for dealing with these. It is useful to ask about these or look these up to find out who you should reach out to in the first instance of making a complaint.

Outside of complaining to the GP surgery directly, there are other avenues you can take as well if you are not satisfied with the outcome of this:

• For NHS-contracted GPs, you can make a formal complaint to NHS England as they are responsible for their contract and ensuring these terms are fulfilled

• For both NHS and private GPs, you can make a complaint to the General Medical Council (GMC), as this is the regulatory body that ensures these professionals uphold a good standard of care

• For out-of-hours GP services, you should either make a complaint to the providers directly or to the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that commissions them

As noted, you can make a complaint either verbally or in writing. Most would recommend the written approach as:

• It allows you to make your complaint dispassionately, so your emotions do not get the better of you in the case of a face-to-face complaint

• You can check that all dates, names and events are accurate before these are sent on for review

• You can list all factual details you can, rather than needing to recall them in the spur of the moment during a verbal exchange

Even if you choose to take a verbal approach, it is encouraged that you write all information down before speaking to the GP, practice manager or alternative person you are making the complaint to.

When complaining about GP negligence, follow the complaints procedure presented by the GP surgery before escalating the complaint to either NHS England or the GMC. You can escalate it if you do not receive a response within the given timescales or the response does not answer or address your concerns.

In your formal letter or email of complaint, ensure that you include:

• What your complaint is about

• Who is involved

• What events took place and when

• Any questions you have about those events

• What outcome you are pursuing (an apology, a meeting, an investigation, etc.)

• How you can be contacted

Once this has been submitted, the GP surgery should respond promptly with an acknowledgement of your complaint, followed by:

• An internal investigation into the issues raised in the complaint

• A comprehensive, written response to your complaint

• Details of any meeting or discussion that is being arranged to attempt to resolve this issue

If you are not satisfied by what you receive following this complaint, you can escalate the matter further by contacting either the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) in the case of NHS GPs, or the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) for private GPs.

For more information on how to make a formal complaint about your GP, we recommend exploring the helpful insights from Citizens Advice.