GP failure

[Gettingbysomehow]

My GP has completely failed me. Complaints ignored. Who do I report the surgery to. Would it be the CQC or another governing body.

TBH I’d change surgeries if you feel so let down.

Yes CQC. But I would change surgeries first. If you are staying with that surgery and still need to resolve it then there is a PALS that will cover your GP surgery and can liaise with them for you.

Yep I tried that but I'm half way through treatment and the GP surgeries I rang either have waiting lists or say it will take 4 weeks to be able to book an appointment to discuss my ongoing needs so that isn't an option unfortunately. I live very rurally. It's also very complex and they don't have to take me on at all.

PALS are for hospitals, not GP surgeries.

GPs have a contractual obligation to respond to complaints so if they aren’t responding you can contact your local ICB. However, this isn’t a quick fix and they will just be chasing your practice to respond.

You can complain to NHS England and they will get a response from the practice.

CQC is worth reporting to but they are unlikely to investigate individual patient issues. They will see if it adds to any existing info they have that causes them concern. They may end up inspecting but, again, it won’t address your specific issue.

Why post if you don't know what you're talking about? The GP surgery will have an email address to their PALS (different to the hospital one...) in their complaints procedure/the complaints section of their website.

You could also consider reporting to the GMC if you felt it met their criteria for a referral but this would have to be very significant.

Yeah, it’s not called PALS, it’s the practice manager.

....no, it's really not. The Practice Manager is a great way to make a complaint, but there is also PALS that will cover GPs. They mostly will be hosted by the ICBs (previously called CCGs). Here are some examples as you clearly don't want to accept that you posted something wrong and are now doubling down...

[email protected] (for GPs in Bath/NE Somerset)
[email protected] (for Glos GPs)
[email protected].uk

And so on.....

I don't think gps have pals but they do have ICB. They just forward the complaint to GP. Change your gp.

GP complaints are generally not taken seriously.

I had a serious issue once with a GP involving gross breach of confidence and lying to me about what he had done. I was advised to write to the practice manager, who I later realised was simply a barrier to protect the doctor. She had no interest in dealing with a complaint, and the complaint got no further and was never resolved. So go way above the practice - they will have no incentive to deal with the problem and will cover it up. According to google you can make a formal complaint (unlike mine) to the surgery, or escalate it to NHS England or the Health Ombudsman.

I don’t understand why you’re being so aggressive. There is no PALS locally and it’s practice manager or further up via ICB. But, whatever. Have a lovely evening.

I have been through PALS before with a GP issue, there definitely is one that covers GP practices. They are really just a liaison service though.

Because you're wrong and it's seriously rubbish to spread incorrect information when someone is having a hard time. HTH.