To expect an apology from the GP?

[Flude]

I’m unsure if I’m being entitled or if this is a reasonable expectation.

Last year I registered at a new GP surgery whilst I was going through a rough time with my mental health. I was pretty much immediately referred to the crisis team and it was evident to everyone that I was very unwell.

One of the receptionists took my phone number from my notes and started to contact me, told me I was paranoid when I said I thought it was a bad idea and began pressurising me for money. I lent her some money and didn’t get it all back. I told the GP in January although didn’t name the person.

The GP agreed that she would remind all staff that they couldn’t be asking patients for money.

A few weeks later I had a phone call asking for a thousand pounds for a family emergency. I went back to the GP and said it had happened again and it didn’t appear that anything happened.

I told the mental health team who decided to do a safeguarding referral and the GP immediately suspended the member of staff. She has since lost her job.

Social services are the ones who updated me to say she’s lost her job.

Do you think the GP should offer an apology to me for the way they’ve handled things, for not acting on it quicker and for the breech in my personal data? They have told me it’s been very stressful for them but it’s been far worse for me being the subject of two safeguarding referrals?

They have been referred to the CCG (they had to self refer themselves when they referred me to the safeguarding team).

@FloofenHoofen clearly never dealt with anyone with mental health issues?

but surely you knew that what she had done was wrong by taking your number and contacting you like that? T

Sounds like victim blaming to me!

OP that's dreadful, we're police involved?

*were

I'm sorry; I'm really struggling to understand this. How did the conversation go? "Hi, I'm the receptionist from your doctor's surgery. Lend me some money"

Didn't you report her free the first contact? How did it even get to the stage wete you actually gave her money?

Have you involved the police op? That would have been my first port of call

OP, I am sorry you have been treated so badly, but I think it is a little more complicated than that.

You said in the post that you did not name the person specifically. If you did not do this, how could the GP surgery take disciplinary action
Against the person responsible? When you reported initially, the surgery said they would tell all staff that this was not acceptable- if they did this, then what more could they do?

When it happened again, did you tell them who had done this to you? If you did and no action was taken, then yes they should apologise.

I thought CCG was 'clinical commissions group '?

Yes, the second time I told them who it was, they were named and I showed them the messages.

Yes, the police and social services are involved.

Commissioning

Even if the surgery did a full investigation and could not find any wrongdoing from staff (like accessing records inappropriately) they should have informed safeguarding and probably the police.

I am a GP. It is perfectly reasonable to ask for an explanation and apology. Bear in mind that the Practice may in fact have acted after you first told the GP, without naming the individual. They may have looked into who had accessed your records, but many Practice staff will have had legitimate reasons to access them. If no one who accessed your records admitted to contacting you, there won't have been much else they could do. Or they may have identified the employee but, if she denied it, they may not have been able to take disciplinary action without any proof.

Having said all that though, it is absolutely reasonable to ask them to explain what steps they took and to ask for an apology of behalf of the Practice. I would be mortified if this had happened to one of my patients.

So basically at the safeguarding meeting I’m allowed to ask questions I think.
I want to ask if they did speak to all the staff.
Why they did not act sooner (the second time I told them).
Whether I can have an apology.

You could also ask what steps they have taken to minimise the risk of this ever happening again.

Thank you XXcstatic. I do really love my GP and I do understand it must be stressful for her to. She has been amazing with my mental health over the last year and I am very grateful to have her as my GP.

GDPR

Bloody hell ,you were targeted,she saw you were vulnerable and took advantage,that’s just wicked ,just wicked .yes your gp owes you a grovelling apology

I am so sorry this has happened to you, Flude. It's quite appalling.

An apology may not be forthcoming because the only person at fault was the receptionist who has since been sacked - quite right too. Other staff may have been advised not to say anything about it, doesn't mean they aren't sorry.

If I was the practice manager, I would want to write to you saying how sorry I was that this happened at 'our' surgery but it's possible no one can do that, it's almost like admitting liability.

Onwards and upwards, Flude.

I’m really glad to hear the police are involved, but that could also mean that what the surgery can communicate to you may be limited if the investigation is ongoing. Also, the GPs will be involved in a massive arse covering exercise and will do anything they can to avoid taking responsibility. So you won’t get an apology now as that’s admitting responsibility and they won’t do that for legal reasons.

Regardless of your MH issues, when you told the GP one of their staff was asking for money off you they should have investigated, seeing who was accessing your records and it was a dereliction of duty not to do that.

I would suggest first of all to contact MIND, the mental health charity, they can advocate on your behalf, I know people who have been helped by them and they are bloody brilliant. Find here:

www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/advocacy/#.XV704yTTXDs

You can complain via the ombudsman, link below, and there will also be a Healthwise .org for your area you can find via the Ombudsman website.

www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/How_to_raise_concerns_about_a_general_practice_0.pdf

I have worked in the Health Service having quite a bit of contact with them, and unfortunately I’m not really shocked by this.

All the best of luck and I’m sorry you’re having to go through this.

Unless the rules for GPS are very different to elsewhere in health this should have been reported to several places (cqc, ico and CCG) and you should have received a duty of candour letter - apology and offer of involvement in the investigation.

I think health watch can provide advocates in dealing with health complaints or I would contact the CCG directly - or even the ico (information commissioner)

Try and speak to Mind tomorrow and find out if they can get an advocate into the safeguarding meeting with you.

Your GP may be lovely, but this is really, really serious.

This is awful, I wonder how many other vulnerable people this person has contacted through her job?

Those who are asking the OP why she let it happen - the perpetrator was in an ideal position to pick out vulnerable people, and the OP was, as she says, very ill. Most scams are based on singling out the gullible, and Flude was temporarily extra-gullible due to her mental health.

@Flude, I don't think you're being entitled, but I wonder if an explanation would be more use to you than a straight apology?

I think the practice should be falling over themselves to make it up to you.

Try and speak to Mind tomorrow and find out if they can get an advocate into the safeguarding meeting with you

That is a good idea. Try to keep an open mind about the practice at this stage. What the receptionist did was terrible, no question. However, you don't yet know that the practice did in response and, as PPs have said, if the police investigation is ongoing, the practice may have been constrained in what it could tell you. My practice had a problem of petty theft from staff (not patients) a few years ago and we were amazed at how rigid the rules were about how we could collect evidence and what we could tell the staff who had been affected.

It could be that the practice have been slow to act and are now arse-covering, or it could be that a lot has gone on behind the scenes that you don't yet know about. I am definitely not trying to discourage you from asking questions or wanting an apology. I'm just suggesting that you hear the practice's side before you assume that they did not take your initial complaint seriously.

Well it's not sunfairso so make your assumptions about me all you like.