Surgery blames its ‘carbon footprint’ for ditching widow who complained
FOR 30 years, grandmother Avril Mulcahy made regular visits to her GP surgery for treatment to her growing list of ailments. And when the 83-year-old widow became too frail to leave her home, she relied on doctors coming to see her.
But all that came to an abrupt end when she was sent a letter telling her she had 28 days to find a new practice.
The note blamed ‘ green travelling issues’, explaining the trip doctors made from the surgery for her home visits left an unacceptable ‘carbon footprint’.
A furious Mrs Mulcahy suspects the decision is actually a response to a complaint she made about a doctor a month earlier and is fighting to have it overturned.
‘When he visited me he was very rude and didn’t seem to know why he had been sent,’ she said at her home in Westcliff-on-sea, Essex.
‘My diabetes had begun affecting the sight in my right eye and was starting to affect my left eye too, so I was quite concerned when he visited.
‘He didn’t seem to care. He did nothing to help me at all other than take my blood pressure and leave. I was so angry about it I called the surgery and told them, “I don’t ever want that doctor under my roof again”.
‘There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this letter was a direct result of my complaint.
‘ I complained in the middle of February and the surgery contacted me in March. I haven’t heard of anyone else receiving these letters.’
The retired teacher registered with West Road Surgery, just around the corner from her home, when she moved to Westcliff in the 1980s. Her husband, Edward, died from a heart attack in 1993.
She relocated to a retirement flat 20 years ago which was just under a mile from the surgery – there is another half a mile from her home – but she was told she would not need to register with another practice.
Throughout the years, she says, she had never complained about any staff until the visit in February.
On March 19, she received the letter from the surgery which said:
‘An excuse to get rid of me’
‘Our greatest concern is for your health and convenience but also taking into concern green travelling issues. Re: carbon footprints and winter weather conditions, we feel it would be advisable for patients to register at surgeries nearer to where they live.
‘We would be grateful if you could make the necessary arrangements to re-register at another practice.’
Mrs Mulcahy, a mother of four, has mobility problems owing to osteoarthritis, needs fortnightly blood tests and has daily doses of a bloodthinning drug to prevent a lifethreatening pulmonary embolism.
She added: ‘To be treated like this is disgraceful. It feels like they are just coming up with an excuse to get rid of me.
‘Leaving me 28 days at my age to find a doctor is not good. It could have finished me off. There has never been a problem with the distance the doctor has to travel. I’ve written expressing my disapproval as the letter looks more like a threat, especially to someone my age who relies on medication.’
West Road Surgery serves around 7,800 patients.
A spokesman said: ‘ While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we are committed to providing high quality services to all our patients.
‘We are therefore sorry for any anxiety our recent correspondence to Mrs Mulcahy may have caused.’
Paula Saunders, head of primary medical services commissioning for NHS South Essex, said: ‘Contractually, all GPS are required to provide general medical services within an agreed geographical area.
‘If patients do not live within a GP practice’s boundary or they subsequently move, the decision to keep them on the practice list is at the discretion of the surgery. If patients think they have been unfairly removed from a practice list, they should contact NHS South Essex.’