Surgery sent dying patient home

A doctors' surgery in Swansea has been criticised following the death of a man from pneumonia just hours after being told by his GP to go home to bed and take paracetamol.

Michael Oliver, 33, was taken ill the day before his death earlier this year.

An independent review panel set up to investigate the case, found that the care and advice given to Mr Oliver was inappropriate.

A report published on Friday voiced concern about how far a receptionist was to advise or persuade a patient to come to surgery instead of receiving a home visit.

Mr Oliver died after his concerned family phoned Gowerton Medical Centre twice the day before his death, and twice on the day that he died, asking for a home visit.

Relatives have said that the surgery insisted he brought into the surgery.

Another main area of concern in the report is the approach taken by the GP - Dr Phillip Evans - who treated Mr Oliver when he was eventually brought to the surgery.

After he was sent him, his condition worsened and his mother, Diana Oliver, again phoned the surgery for further advice.

"I put the telephone down and looked at my son," she said.

"He was in such a bad state that I could tell he was dying. He had asked me 'dial 999 mum, I'm dying'."

The review panel found that on hearing that his patient had turned blue, the doctor should have taken urgent steps and arranged for immediate reassessment or for admission to hospital.

It recommended that the surgery review its arrangements for telephone advice and home visits particularly the guidance it gives to its receptionists and that Dr Evans reviews his practice for providing telephone advice and making home calls.

The Oliver family have since received a letter from the surgery expressing sympathy for their loss and assuring them that their procedures have been reviewed and that most of the review panel's recommendations have been implemented.

But they have said they are not satisfied, and while unsure what further action they will take, they would like a formal apology.