To: NHS ENGLAND, HEALTH SERVICE OMBUDSMAN, HEALTH SECRETARY
GP SURGERIES OPERATING KANGAROO COURTS
My research over the past 15 months just in one local area indicated that many GP surgeries operate Kangaroo Courts and issue formal Warning Letters and/or De-register patients without any discussion or meetings. The policy of Zero Tolerance is often inappropriately invoked. Prior to 2019 both NHS England/OHS Ombudsman took this issue seriously and represented patient complaints with considerable success and rectification.
The local Integrated Care systems, NHS England and OHS Ombusdman need to fully investigate this issue. No formal data is held. GP surgeries are individual businesses and as such operate freely without little or no scrutiny in the area of Complaint Handling. Patients need to be protected from such practice at the whim of individual surgeries and MPs, NHS England, the Health Secretary and the Ombudsman need to take back charge of this whole area and to provide for the scrutiny and monitoring of this whole issue for each GP practice in the UK.
Why is this important?
Because many patients are being threatened with removal or are removed from GP patient lists often following formal or complaints.
Many surgeries operate Kangaroo Courts that become Judge and Jury without ever meeting with the patient or discussing the matter. Individual GP Complaints Policies and NHS Complaints policies are being ignored or significantly breached with little or no come-back for the patient(s).
