Abstract
A new GP starts work in your practice. After a couple of weeks you are asked to scrutinise a referral from this GP by the practice secretary as she is unhappy with its contents. You check the referral letter and find that the referral is completely inappropriate. You decide to mention it quietly to the GP the next time you are working together. The following week, you arrive back from your visits to find the practice nurse anxiously waiting for you. She has been seeing a lady booked for a routine wound check who has arrived in an extremely breathless state with reduced blood oxygen saturations of 89% 5 days following knee replacement surgery. She has already asked the new GP to review and she is unhappy with the advice that she received to book the patient into an emergency appointment with someone else later that afternoon. You confirm the nurse’s examination findings and admit the patient to hospital as an acute medical emergency. The hospital discharge summary confirms a pulmonary embolus.
How might you raise your concerns about this GP’s performance?
How would your responsibilities and actions differ if you were a salaried GP or a partner?
If you could not resolve this situation within the practice, do you have a responsibility to take this further and what might your next steps be?