A practice in the Gateshead area

3. Mrs L was diagnosed with lipoma in her lower leg in April 2021.

4. She complains during telephone and face to face appointments between April 2021 and August 2021 the Practice did not take concerns about her lipoma regarding increasing pain in her leg and the growth of the lump seriously.

5. As a result Mrs L says the lump was left to grow and sarcoma was found at a later stage. She says a surgeon told her if sarcoma was treated earlier the scarring would have been considerably less. The muscle from her back may not have been needed for the reconstruction and the skin graft would have been significantly smaller.

6. Mrs L is still in constant pain, and under pain management, struggles to walk, stand, lift and carry things for a prolonged period of time. She is currently seeing a clinical psychologist due to the impact she feels will last for the remainder of her life.

7. As an outcome Mrs L wants an admission of wrongdoing by the Practice in relation to why it did not do more at her attendances when describing pain and growth of the lump. She also wants an apology for the clinical aspects of her complaint and compensation between £3,750 and £12,500.

8. On 8 April 2021 Mrs L had an ultrasound at a Trust in Gateshead where she was informed they found a lump in her lower leg at 2.5cm which was diagnosed as lipoma.

9. Between 16 April and 2 August 2021 she had telephone and face to face appointments with the Practice explaining she had pain where the lump was located which got worse and the size of the lump increased.

10. 16 August 2021 the Practice requested an urgent ultrasound due to its increased size and associated pain.

11. The MRI shown the lump had grown from 2.5 cm to 10cm in August 2021 and Mrs L had surgery to remove it.

12. Mrs L complained to the Practice on 14 August 2022.

14. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns. Some complaints can be looked at by us, and by other organisations. We consider whether another organisation is better suited to giving an answer to the complaint and whether it can provide the outcomes the complainant seeks.

15. Mrs L told us she had previously taken her complaint to the GMC who undertook an investigation.

16. We reviewed the GMC’s investigation reports into the matters Mrs L raised. The GMC has done four reports on four of the doctors at the Practice regarding the same issue Mrs L has brought to us. In the reports the GMC has explained its view.

17. We have looked at the work the GMC did. It did four investigations, sought independent advice and found no failings. It considered the referrals the Practice made, its treatment plan and its decision not to arrange a further scan in April 2021.

18. We consider Mrs L is bringing the same complaint issues to us.

19. We do not think there is anything further we could add to the GMC’s consideration. Where we would normally be directing someone towards the GMC as more appropriate, in this case we can say after reviewing its investigations into the same complaint there would be nothing further we could add to an investigation by another equivalent body.

20. We understand Mrs L is living with lifelong scarring and continues to be in pain. We recognise both the physical and psychological impact her condition and treatment has had on her.

21. We are not persuaded we could add anything further to the GMC’s findings by carrying out another investigation into the same matters. We will therefore take no further action on this complaint.

22. We thank Mrs L for bring her concerns to us. We appreciate she may be disappointed with our decision but hope she understands our reasons for it.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs L’s complaint about a GP practice in the Gateshead area (the Practice). We are sorry to hear of Mrs L’s experience and understand her experience of not feeling listened to be a source of distress for her. We acknowledge how upsetting these events have been for Mrs L and that the aftermath of them continue to cause her considerable distress.

2. Mrs L complains about the care and treatment the Practice provided her during telephone and face to face consultations, between April 2021 and August 2021. We have decided another organisation has already considered Mrs L’s concerns and there is nothing further we can add.