The Practice did not listen to or escalate Mr A’s concerns about his father
17. Point 34 of the General Medical Council’s professional standards ‘Confidentiality: good practice in handling patient information’ says:
‘You must be considerate to those close to the patient and be sensitive and responsive in giving them information and support, while respecting the patient’s right to confidentiality.’
18. As noted in our background information, Mr A’s father attended three appointments at the Practice from 20 January to 27 January 2025.
19. Section 5.2 of the Practice’s Complaints, Suggestions and Compliments Policy and Procedure says a complaint can be received and made by ‘someone acting on behalf of a patient with their written consent, for example a relative.’
20. On 28 January the Practice emailed Mr A to say it is unable to progress with a formal complaint without written consent from Mr A’s father to discuss the case with him and to release information from his medical records. It told Mr A that his concerns about his father have been discussed with the Practice’s GP’s and reassured him that necessary action was taken by the Practice to help Mr A and his family.
21. The Practice told us how during a Practice meeting on 3 February a GP deemed Mr A’s father to have capacity. It explained how the questions Mr A asked, and the concerns he raised about his father, were discussed during the meeting. The Practice emailed Mr A on 4 February at 08:28 to reassure him that his concerns had been taken seriously and were discussed at a Practice meeting.
22. The Practice’s Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedure says:
‘Where an adult has capacity in relation to a specific decision, e.g. a health intervention, consent is required, and their decision must be respected.’
23. We acknowledge how this has been a distressing time for Mr A and his family.
24. We understand how Mr A’s father did not give his consent for the Practice to speak directly with Mr A regarding the concerns he had raised about his father’s mental health and safeguarding.
25. While we appreciate Mr A is frustrated that the Practice did not listen to him or escalate his concerns about his father’s health and safeguarding, we consider the Practice acted in line with the General Medical Council’s professional standards and its safeguarding policy when it responded to Mr A’s concerns by inviting Mr A’s father to attend three appointments from 20 to 27 January following the domestic violence incidents.
26. Our Principles of Good Administration state public bodies should behave helpfully and deal with people promptly. We see the Practice listened to and escalated Mr A’s concerns about his father when he contacted it in January. It also saw Mr A’s father twice in the Practice in the same week Mr A raised his concerns.
27. The Practice also emailed Mr A in January to reassure him that necessary action was taken by the Practice to help Mr A’s father and his family. A Practice meeting was also held to discuss the questions Mr A had asked about his father’s mental health and safeguarding. This is in line with our Principles. For these reasons we have seen no indications of failings here.
The Practice did not signpost Mr A to any support organisations
28. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) safeguarding guidance for responding to a disclosure of domestic abuse says:
‘A Practice should signpost to agencies who can help, e.g. the police.’
29. In his email to the Practice on 26 January Mr A explained how since the initial altercation involving his father on 18 January 2025, he had reported his concerns about his father to NHS 111, Age UK, South Yorkshire Police and the Barnsley Council’s social care emergency duty team (EDT).
30. Mr A told us how when he rang the Practice on 20 January, he explained he felt his father was a danger to himself, his mother and their neighbour.
31. The Practice has provided evidence to show how on 20 January it advised Mr A to contact the Police with the welfare and safeguarding concerns about his father following a domestic violence incident where Mr A’s father assaulted his neighbour.
32. We find the Practice signposted Mr A to the Police on 20 January 2025 to support him with his welfare and safeguarding concerns about his father, in line with the RCGP safeguarding guidance for responding to a disclosure of domestic abuse.
33. Based on the information we have reviewed as part of our assessment we have seen no indications of failings here.
34. We understand how difficult it must have been for Mr A to bring his complaint to us and thank him for giving us an opportunity to look into his concerns. We hope we have explained our decision clearly.