What should the consequences be to a GP practice

ethan

ethan

ethan

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Giving out the wrong dosage of medication to a client month after month after not consulting or ignoring the recommendations/instruction of a specialist?
 
At the minute it seems those in the medical profession can literally get away with killing people with no consequence. So maybe a stern telling off?
 
Depends what the consequences to the patient were /boring answer

Or are we all expected to shout "lock them up!" and "a fine of £1 squillion etc?
 
ethan said:
Giving out the wrong dosage of medication to a client month after month after not consulting or ignoring the recommendations/instruction of a specialist?
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Wrong dosage of medication should be an investigation and improvement in systems to prevent it in future. Recompense depends on harm done and what the person involved desires to some extent.

Ignoring the advice of a specialist is an odd one, again depends if any harm was done and what the intention behind it was.
 
ethan said:
Giving out the wrong dosage of medication to a client month after month after not consulting or ignoring the recommendations/instruction of a specialist?
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Wrong dosage because it wasn't changed as per the specialist recommendation?
or wrong dosage as in medication error/completely incorrect?
 
tres said:
Wrong dosage because it wasn't changed as per the specialist recommendation?
or wrong dosage as in medication error/completely incorrect?
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The former. The specialist had apparently given instructions that the patient was to receive an incrimental increase of medication over a period of time to allow for tolerance et. Looking at the instructions, this has not happened and presumably the patient hasn't been receiving the benefit of receiving the medication at the correct dose.
 
ethan said:
The former. The specialist had apparently given instructions that the patient was to receive an incrimental increase of medication over a period of time to allow for tolerance et. Looking at the instructions, this has not happened and presumably the patient hasn't been receiving the benefit of receiving the medication at the correct dose.
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Check the GP definitely received the specialist letter. I've had consultant letters reach me 4 months after the meeting with the patient.
Was it a shared care agreement? This changes things as the medication adjustments wouldn't necessarily be made until the agreement is in place
 
ethan said:
The former. The specialist had apparently given instructions that the patient was to receive an incrimental increase of medication over a period of time to allow for tolerance et. Looking at the instructions, this has not happened and presumably the patient hasn't been receiving the benefit of receiving the medication at the correct dose.
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I think a sorry, plan to address it and investigation into why it happened would be appropriate.
 
tres said:
Check the GP definitely received the specialist letter. I've had consultant letters reach me 4 months after the meeting with the patient.
Was it a shared care agreement? This changes things as the medication adjustments wouldn't necessarily be made until the agreement is in place
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I don't know what a shared care agreement is but can guess. The person I'm talking about requested copies of his medical records from the GP and found the discrepancy amongst them. So it looks like the GP was informed. The patient is livid because the medication is for a brain disease and would have likely have made his symptoms less worse had he received the correct dose. He feels he has been suffering unnecessarily for the last ten months. He was discharged by the specialist so it looks like the fault is the GP's.
 
ethan said:
I don't know what a shared care agreement is but can guess. The person I'm talking about requested copies of his medical records from the GP and found the discrepancy amongst them. So it looks like the GP was informed. The patient is livid because the medication is for a brain disease and would have likely have made his symptoms less worse had he received the correct dose. He feels he has been suffering unnecessarily for the last ten months. He was discharged by the specialist so it looks like the fault is the GP's.
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Minstadave has the answer then. An investigation is key. The letter from the specialist, if it definitely arrived, would have been processed by admin, secretaries, pharmacist and the GP. Important to find out how the mistake was made.
Why didn't the patient question it sooner? Medicine should be a shared decision making process, long gone are the paternalistic days. I'm certainly not excusing any mistake made, but self ownership of a condition and management is crucual. That's why letters are sent to the patient, and are now written in patient friendly language without jargon.
 
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