To raise a concern about this GP?

[Thistledew]

My MIL is a retired nurse. Last week she phoned her GP and said that she was concerned that she was suffering from a subarachnoid haemorrhage (a bleed on the brain caused by a burst blood vessel). She had a headache, stiff neck and nausea. She has a family history of this problem as it caused her mother's death.

Her GP said that he would not call an ambulance for her as they would be likely to be too busy but that she should drive herself to the hospital and go to A&E for a scan. MIL fortunately took a taxi to A&E, where she was assessed as having a muscle spasm in her neck, which was causing the headache. There was no bleed on her brain.

It seems utterly alarming that a GP would advise someone suspected of having an active bleed on the brain to get in a car and drive. I'm considering contacting the practice manager and raising this as a concern for investigation.

On the other hand, what I suspect but cannot prove is that the GP has diagnosed MIL as having nothing more than health anxiety and thought that although there was no realistic likelihood of her suffering from a haemorrhage at that time that it was the only way to resolve her anxiety.

But if I'm wrong about that, then should I take it at face value and raise a concern?

Maybe she has health anxiety.
However my mum was always dismissed by nhs (as they are useless) ended up with undiagnosed sent home heart attack went back in with stent fitted. She hadnt felt right for years and was only 50s.
I dont think you can judge too much from being told to drive yourself! As there was a post/article re a person who had already had a heart attack that week having another and the family being told to drive them as no ambulances (jan 2022 i think). So potentially having to cpr in the car.
I once waited hours at a&e with dsis 20yrs ago, due to asthma attack when finally seen she stayed in a week! And had nebulisers, yet had to wait in waiting room. The dr said - should have called an ambulance, we had walked as it was next door.

My mum once having breathing difficulties again waiting room etc. Saw triage nurse who said you dont look very ill. (She is tanned like a european) but to me i looked ill (very pale skinned) again mum kept in hours for nebuliser.
Gp called out on holiday for mum breathing issues and flu. Couldnt i think walk etc so we couldnt take her waiting many hours for ambulance again kept in a whole week on o2. (About 10y ago)
Personally i think my own anxiety was triggered by nhs (dc had loads of ear imfections with burst drums and 40 deg fevers and gp wouldnt give AB. So im certain if i had to work there i would have anxiety from seeing everyone fobbed off. /misdiagnosed.
Also gp likely knows how long an ambulance can take. Mostly it is easier to take yourself. However then they dont think it's serious!

It's odd that someone with medical expertise would think the GP was the best option for a suspected haemorrhage.

@INeedNewShoes

It's odd that someone with medical expertise would think the GP was the best option for a suspected haemorrhage.

I agree.

I don't think the GP actually did anything wrong, apart from affirm MIL's belief that she needed a scan.

So why on earth are you even considering raising a concern?! The GP assessed your MIL, concluded that she was perfectly capable and lucid, but suggested she go to A&E just as a precaution (probably because, in the unlikely event that there was anything wrong, he's well aware that MIL or her family would raise a concern about that too).

It seems utterly alarming that a GP would advise someone suspected of having an active bleed on the brain to get in a car and drive.

But she wasn't suspected of having an active bleed on the brain. She was suspected - correctly, as it turned out - of being a hypochondriac with a headache.

@Thistledew

It's fairly shitty for DH to get a call from his mother in the middle of his working day to say that she is on her way to the hospital for a scan for the thing that killed her mother, when in fact no reasonable medical practitioner actually thinks there is a realistic likelihood that she has that thing.

If this is the angle you're taking, why would it be a good idea to complain about a GP's practice to the manager and have them potentially go through an investigation process into the care they provided.

Why would you do that to someone if you don't actually have a concern about their practice?

Am I correct in thinking you wish to complain about a GP, even though you don't think he did anything wrong, and he was actually proved correct?

@louiseofthelakes

Am I correct in thinking you wish to complain about a GP, even though you don't think he did anything wrong, and he was actually proved correct?

Essentially. The OP doesn't care for the GP as a person or a professional, the anxiety that this could cause or how damaging it can be. And it's based on nothing. People like this are a part of what makes me want to leave the NHS.

Please do not complain about a GP who it seems you don’t actually have any real concerns about just to try and trip up your MIL. Doctors are already more likely to end their lives compared with the general population and complaints are a huge trigger for this. Obviously that is not to say that complaints aren’t warranted at times but I’m struggling to see how this one is when you have no idea what was actually said. It’s threads like this that make me so glad I left medicine.

Sometimes intelligent people are wrong, and the people we love can make daft decisions.

Is best I think you can try to persuade your DH, OP.

Her GP said that he would not call an ambulance for her as they would be likely to be too busy but that she should drive herself to the hospital and go to A&E for a scan. MIL fortunately took a taxi to A&E, where she was assessed as having a muscle spasm in her neck, which was causing the headache. There was no bleed on her brain.

It seems utterly alarming that a GP would advise someone suspected of having an active bleed on the brain to get in a car and drive. I'm considering contacting the practice manager and raising this as a concern for investigation.

I strongly suspect that the GP simply said something like "it's best if you make your own way to A&E", as in get a lift or a taxi, and your MIL has interpreted that as she should drive herself.

An ambulance would be inappropriate in this situation, and she would probably have been waiting hours.

Don't complain about the GP. You MIL has already changed her story about her headache. I'd take what she said the GP said with a pinch of salt.