A north-east medical practice has been told to apologise after it failed to identify a serious bacterial pneumonia – instead diagnosing Covid.
During a telephone appointment with a patient, who was coughing up blood, the medic asked the person to isolate, rather than go to hospital.
That was in spite of the medical practice being told how seriously ill the person was.
The patient was not offered a face-to-face appointment, and some weeks later they were admitted to hospital.
In a report, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) said the GP practice – that has not been named in the report – had taken steps to put right its mistake.
But the medical practice had failed to note that coughing up blood was not a known symptom of Covid.
A spokeswoman for the ombudsman said it had told the NHS Grampian area medical practice to apologise for not offering a face-to-face appointment, especially when the patient was coughing up blood.
Practice did not offer face-to-face appointment
An SPSO spokeswoman said: “C complained on behalf of their partner (A). A had a telephone consultation with the practice and reported haemoptysis (coughing up blood) and a fever.
“A also reported that they had taken a lateral flow test for Covid-19 which was negative. A did not take a PCR test for Covid-19 prior to contacting the practice.
“The practice considered it was likely that A had Covid-19 and advised that they self-isolate for 10 days after symptoms started.
“A’s condition deteriorated and several weeks later they were admitted to hospital and diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia.
“C complained that the practice did not offer A a face to face appointment and subsequently failed to correctly diagnose their condition of bacterial pneumonia, instead focussing on Covid-19 as being the cause of A’s illness.”
Practice accepts case merited ‘further clinical consideration’
In response to the complaint, the medical practice considered it had been following the guidelines in place at the time and that it had correctly signposted A to the Covid-19 Hub for further assessment.
In January 2022, The Press and Journal reported concerns about the lack of face-to-face appointments, and the consequences of misdiagnosis.
The SPSO report continues: “We took independent advice from a GP. We found that there was no evidence in the clinical record that A had been signposted to the Covid-19 Hub and that haemoptysis was never listed as one of the common symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
“We found there was a failure to offer A a face-to-face appointment, particularly given they had reported haemoptysis.”
“We welcomed that during our investigation the practice reflected further and accepted that A’s complaint of haemoptysis merited further clinical consideration and assessment.”
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