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Wrong diagnosis


mark88
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About 10 weeks ago my 90yo grandad was in town and felt something 'go' at the top of his leg as he was crossing the road. He was in terrible pain and was unable to get home. Went to the see one of our GPs who diagnosed it as a 'pulled muscle' and advised the best course of action was to rest a couple days then get up and about walking as much as possible, she sent the physio therapist round regularly to make sure he was doing just that. As time went by the pain remained, he was unable to walk most of the time and not getting any better. My mum tried to pester the surgery to get them to send him for an X-ray but not happening. After 8 weeks one of the other GPs agrees to send him for an X-ray at the hospital which confirms that he has a broken hip which needs to be operated on straight away. They were rather shocked at the hospital when they found out he had been walking around for 2 months with a broken hip. During the op the surgeon said it was 'hanging on by a thread'....he's been in hospital 2 weeks now.

Now as you can imagine we're not exactly best pleased that our local surgery was so utterly useless and made the situation worse than it was by wrongly diagnosing. The fact that they encouraged him to exercise only made things worsen and a simply x-ray would have saved 2 months of pain.

Would you take this further? I'm not too sure but my mum and dad are considering it and are rather furious.

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very sorry to hear of your grandfathers accident. mark88.

If You are unhappy with the treatment of your grandfather by his GP, you can make an official complaint thro the local PCT (primary care trust), who will investigate.You can usually get details from their website.

It may not help your grandfather, but it may stop it happening again if there was a problem.

Unfortunately in these time, corners are being cut in PCT land, to save £££

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Farmerpalmer, I'd very much dispute your claim that this has anything to do with saving money. Yes, PCT's are needing to save, but not sending someone for an xray for this reason would certainly not include this.

Mark, what you wish to do is entirely your choice. If you ring your GP Surgery and ask who handles the complaints, they will give you the contact person/department. If you get nowhere with them, you can try the Healthcare Commission here or you can go to the Ombudsman here Or, if you're really really unhappy, then you could report the GP to the GMC. Bare in mind though if you do this, the GP could be struck off.

You may get everything sorted at a local level rather than having to go up so high as the GMC, but they are your options, anyway.

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Agree with the above. Cost had sod-all to do with it as cost of Xray is tiny.

He [the GP] made a judgement call and got it wrong, simple as.

As for how to handle it - these things like all complaints follow the step-wise escalation process. Nothing will be gained except time wasted gunnning straight to the GMC.

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The phrase we are seeking, as Waylander knows only too well is undisplaced subcapital fracture. The bone can give way, but it all stays in place for a while. Lots of elderly people seem to fall over and break their hips whilst crossing the road, but when you look into it, they fall over because their hip breaks, rather than breaking it when they hit the deck.

I agree with waylander, GP made a judgement call, which turned out to be incorrect. Your Grandad spent 8 weeks in pain, which the GP undoubtedly feels terrible about. I am sure they can explain why they took the decision they did.

Having experienced far too many complaints in my role as an A&E Consultant, I would suggest you ask to meet the GP concerned. Approach it as a reasonable discussion, not an angry shouting match, and you will achieve a lot - much more satisfying than a meaningless letter from a manager saying sorry.

Jim

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[ QUOTE ]

Farmerpalmer, I'd very much dispute your claim that this has anything to do with saving money. Yes, PCT's are needing to save, but not sending someone for an xray for this reason would certainly not include this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I hate to disagree with you Drpellypo, but this is happening in my pct area. The local trust are setting plans so that unless something is "life threatining" patients should be referred to their GP or walk-in centre. This is to save money, as every referral to A&E is charged to the local pct, as is every admission. fewer referrals or admissions means less cost to the pct.

I deal with the local pct, and every decision they make is to save money, under a thinly veiled " its not affecting patient care" -load of tosh

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Agree! People ask why the NHS is in financial trouble? Well stop fecking going to A&E for things that your pharmacist can fix!

And farmer - as said, a referral to A&E is very very different to refusing an xray to save money. Doing such would be clinical negligence and could, in the world of foundation trusts, cause trusts to lose an awful lot of funding. It's simply not worth it to work like that.

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