We are aware that some members of our community may have read recent articles in the press about the tragic death of one of our patients in 2021 during the pandemic.
We want to first and foremost offer our deepest sympathies with this patient’s family and reassure our patients about our current ways of working.
The death was discussed at a coroners inquest that was held last month and the conclusions were published last week.
The report from the inquest states:
‘There is no finding of neglect or failure of care on the basis of (the patient’s) reported symptoms between the 29th of April and the 15th of June 2021 when Dr Warner recognised he was seriously ill and sent him straight to hospital’
‘An opportunity to diagnose his illness by way of a face-to-face examination by the GP did not occur due to national NHS Covid regulations requiring triaging of patients and telephone appointments to avoid the spread of COVID-19 virus’
The full conclusion of this inquest is a matter of public record.
At the time, we were operating an appointment system at Rye Medical Centre that all practices in the UK were instructed to adopt by NHS England to limit the spread of COVID-19.
NHS England guidance dated 27.03.2020 publication approval reference 001559
‘GP practices should adopt a full triage first model that supports the management of patients remotely where possible. This should be at the point of access by patients to general practice. In practice this means GP practices using telephone, video and online consultation technology, potentially supplemented by any remote monitoring, available to the patient in their home or provided as part of the local model’
The full triage first model has not been used at the practice since the Covid pandemic ended when we were advised it was safe to return to our normal working practice.
We continue to encourage our patients who require either a telephone or face-to-face consultation to arrange an appointment by either calling the surgery or booking online by the patient access or NHS app. Patients who feel they need an urgent book on the day appointment will first be assessed by a clinician to ensure patients are appropriately prioritised. Patients can also complete an online form via engage consult to ask about a non-urgent medical problem.
We remain very saddened by this death and our thoughts remain with his family at this difficult time.