Can she share this?

UnsureAboutthis

A friend attended hospital appointments and saw a doctor.

The hospital doctor wrote a very rude letter about my friend, and the GP sent her a copy as per their normal procedure, i.e., info sharing.

My frined was upset and made a formal complaint, which has been upheld, and my friend got the letter/hard copy 3 weeks ago. My friend has asked the complaints and pals team a couple of times if they could share it with her GP but they have not responded. My friend wants to share this with the surgery and have it added to her records to prove that the letter by the hospital doctor was completely unprofessional and the doc said she apologised to me directly

Is my friend allowed to share the letter with my GP or discuss it with them, given that the hospital doc originally wrote it about her to her GP and misrepresented my friend and made her appear as a stupid timewaster and a time waster?

My friend is now too embarrassed to see her GP as she feels (wrongly, I've told her) that the GP's and admin staff se her as stupid/etc./etc.

This incidents was in the UK

Flugelhorn

It isn't the normal sort of letter that would be added to a patient's notes as it is from an investigation / complaint.

I doubt the team at the surgery would see her as stupid etc etc - they would probably be impressed that she got a good response to her complaint.

she can send it to the surgery with a covering letter indicating that this was the result of a complaint to the hospital

Jemma01

I feel for your friend, i hardly go to the GP and I'd probably go into hiding after that. Tell her that GPs won't even remember who she is, they hardly read their notes, they have 10s of patients to see every day. You're lucky if you see your GP in two weeks, they're overbooked. Tell her to let it go.

And frankly, just because a letter is seen as rude, doesn't mean it's wrong. So I'm not sure getting an apology for a rude letter says anything about the facts of what was said. The only thing I would say has a weight to it is a professional second opinion that disagrees with the conclusion (regardless of it being rude or polite).

If you want to share an outcome you can email your GP the output.

J63320

I would definitely share it with the GP. If a GP is making a referral, they need to know everything about the outcome of that referral, because it all affects their patient’s health.
Patients always have the right to see clinic letters - it’s not a privilege granted by the GP. It is actually best practice for the letter to be addressed to the patient, with the GP getting a copy. Therefore any hospital doctor ought to know that the patient will see any letters written about them, and word them accordingly.

UnsureAboutthis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81993850#Comment_81993850

You make a valid point about if it is an and apolgy for what they said in the letter etc.

My friend had already made the complaint the same day she saw this hospital doc as she was so incensed by the mother of all dismissive attitudes and the way the doc spoke to her. My friend is quiet older lady, never seen her raise her voice, be rude, laugh at almost any joke and has many health problems, sadly all of her health concerns have been diagnosed, and it is not in her mind. She felt the doc was aware of how she asked for an ealrier appointment than the 6-monthly review as she felt her health was changing, and it was and is. She felt the doc had preconceived ideas about her. She felt that a max of 5 minutes and doc talking over her was not nice to put it mildly, and that he was not listening to her concerns nor even touching on the possible side effects of a new med he wanted her to take. So she made the complaint long before she was made aware of the letter and was going to just let go of the complaint. That is until about 3 weeks later she got the letter.

Also in the letter, it states that the "concerns had been noted" ie about the way she was treated, and have been forwarded to DMT and the trust will learn for "all" of her concerns.

however, at first glance, the letter does just look like the apology was was the the off moments the doc had.

FYI - Our friend whom we have know for over 30 years has encountered many health problems and antisocial behaviors on the estate she lives in and she has never officially complained before, and that to us indicates that during her appointment, the doctor hmust have fallen seriously short of providing a half-decent service.

UnsureAboutthis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81994015#Comment_81994015

Thank you and everyone else who has posted here.

My friend's GP is the same as ours and always sends a copy of any hospital letter to all of their patients, unless requested. I guess the doc, judging by her age from what our friend told us is what I'd say was 'old school.'

My firned the doc may have got upset as she said to her, "you are not giving me a chance to ask you any questions." In our friend's view, judging by the doctor's body language, the doc may have felt challenged and something she was not used to but only the doc knows what was in her mind.

I will recommend our friend phones the gP surgery mid week when they are quieter, hopefully, speak with the surgery manager, and work on that.