What do you do when you think the GP made a mistake

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About 7 weeks ago ds2 (3) got an infection in his ear that already had a grommet in. All the advice I could find on the internet said that the current recommended treatment was to use antibiotic ear drops. Despite me repeatedly asking for this, he was instead prescribed oral antibiotics. I called his ENT department and asked them to step in and they refused. On Monday I asked the GP to call up for an emergency appointment and she refused, but did write a letter to ask to bring his routine appointment forward. In desperation I called the ENT department again on Tuesday. They saw him yesterday and confirmed he now needs an emergency operation first thing on Monday morning to remove the grommet. He may now suffer damage to his hearing.

Has anyone ever made a formal complaint about a GP practice? And how do I do it?

I think it will be very hard to prove that the GP did something wrong. Just because you looked it up on the internet doesn't mean that the GP made a mistake.

Write and complain but I'm not sure it will get you anywhere.

Hope your ds gets well soon after his operation.

Altogether we saw 6 GPs. I am now kicking myself for not just taking him to A&E to get it sorted but they were so confident that swab matched antibiotics would work, and he has been to A&E so many times, i guess I just wanted to do it the 'normal' way without being a neurotic mother. Who do I make the complaint to? I am not prepared to speak to the practice manager - she is an idiot.
I'm going to ask the ENT some more questions after the op - like what the delay in treatment means for ds, and if what the GPs did was reasonable - but he did say yesterday they should've used drops and now it was too infected to attempt any new treatment other than surgery.

6 GPs? Do you think they all made a mistake? or just some of them?

You're entitled to make a complaint to your primary care trust. They will most likely pass your complaint onto the practice(s) involved who will have to respond to your complaint. Under the complaints procedure, you have the right to express a preference for a written response and/or a local resolution meeting. You can also ask the PCT to arrange for another clinician who wasn't involved to undertake an independent review of the clinical care your DC received. For free independent advice you can contact ICAS (independent complaints advocacy service).

Hope the op goes ok and DC makes a quick recovery.

Thanks maxpower - I will look up the ICAS.

Hard to go into all the reasons why I want to make a formal complaint but really what I want to achieve is some authority to just look at the GP surgery a bit closer. There's been a few things happening that just don't seem quite right, with my family and some others I know.

Also not sure how much of a fuss I can make as I really need a referal to a consultant off them next week for me, and I'm gonna miss a hospital appointment for me on Monday, which will ping back to them, and they will have to re-refer for that too. So need to stay on good terms at least for now.

why do you need another referral if you miss your monday appointment - can't you just ring up and ask for another date?

The problem is that it's not necessarily the GP's fault if a treatment didn't work.

I'm still confused about the 6 GPS - do you think they all made a mistake? The same mistake?

belgo - the letter says if I miss the appointment they won't book up a new appointment without a new referal from the GP. I couldn't call to cancel because I didn't know about ds's op until late Friday, and outpatients desk isn't open now. I'll try to call Monday to explain but we're due in hospital at 8am so it'll just have to be whenever I can duck out for a few mins.

I don't really know about the GPS tbh. They all said the same thing - that they didn't want to use drops because of a risk of them cauing hearing damage. Certainly in the past that was the correct clinical advice. I don't know when it changed but current thinking is that the risk of hearing loss caused by the infection, and risks associated by surgery to remove the grommet mean it is better to give the drops. Many ENT departments publish their guidelines on the internet. So I pressume local GPs go on the guidance of the local ENT department as to what is the preferred method of treatment. But our local ENT have no guidance issues either to parents or the internet - I don't know if they send anything directly to GPs. It was frustrating that no GP would talk to ENT, but also that then ENT refused to speak to me about it. But the GPs all said the same thing, and they sounded confident that swab matched antibiotics would be effective - so I didn't think I should be rushing him to A&E. Now I am kicking myself that I didn't just take him to the hospital because I am sure an ENT would've given him drops there, and he wouldn't be needing an operation.

Yesterday ENT said he should have recieved drops as the first line of treatment and that would usually work. He also said that he should not have been left so long before being referred to ENT.

So I don't know really - I think I am more frustrated with myself that I didn't realise how this would pan out and take decisive action sooner. But then on the other hand at least I did make a fuss and he is getting an operation on Monday - if I had just gone along with the GPs he wouldn't be being seen until mid-July (that was when his brought-forward appointment date cae through for).

if your appt is in the same hospital as your ds's op, then take the letter to the clinic, the chances are they will make you a new appt.