Mr Y said that the GP Practice, in the area of Swansea Bay University Health Board (“the Practice”) had lost a letter from his late mother’s Optician referring her for further investigations.
The Practice confirmed that it had received the letter, but did not explain why there was a 3-month delay in any action being taken. This was a service failure on the part of the Practice in dealing with correspondence. As the issue was not fully addressed in the complaint response received by Mr Y, it was not clear what the circumstances were that caused this failure. It cannot be known what the impact of this was on Mr Y’s mother, which is an injustice to him as he will be left with lasting uncertainty about this.
The Practice agreed that, within 1 month, it would apologise to Mr Y for not acting more promptly on the Optician’s referral and the uncertainty this caused. It also agreed, within 2 months, to investigate the circumstances that led to the referral not being acted on and make any necessary changes to prevent this happening again. It agreed any proposed actions will be shared with the Ombudsman.
