A DAUGHTER is making an official complaint against a GP surgery who she claims refused to see her seriously ill mother the day before she died.

Patricia McAlpine, of Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, said her mother, Mavis Graham, 85, was taken ill with a water infection earlier this month but said nurses told her she’d be “back on her feet in no time”.

However, after several days and no improvement Ms McAlpine grew increasingly concerned and contacted her GP surgery, and said she was told by the receptionist that Mrs Graham, who was suffering from dementia, had not seen a GP since February.

The receptionist at Eaglescliffe Medical Practice allegedly told her a doctor would visit that lunchtime - but Ms McAlpine said the GP spoke to her and said she had more urgent patients to see.

The next day Mrs Graham died.

Ms McAlpine said: “When I visited my mum a few days before she died she was laid up in bed and looked really poorly.

“She was under the care of community nurses and she was on antibiotics for a water infection. To me she looked like she was at death’s door but they reassured me she would be back on her feet soon.

"When I called the GP the receptionist was really good and said someone would visit her at lunchtime. But then the GP called and said she trusted the community nurses’ judgement and that she had more important patients to see that day.

"I didn’t feel like she was treating my concerns seriously. She told me to stop being aggressive but I said I was just agitated, and I also have a problem with my hearing.

“I just wanted someone to go and check on her that day and she said she wouldn’t. I said to her that I thought my mother should be in hospital. She said she could come out two days later but I said I had an appointment then.”

She said the following day the care home where her mother was resident called a GP out, who put Mrs Graham straight on end of life care, and she died within just a few minutes.

“I’m not saying she would have survived,” said Ms McAlpine. “But I feel if they had listened to me then her last day would have been more comfortable because they could have put her on end of life care earlier.”

She said she had contacted the Teesside Coroner but no inquest will take place.

A spokesman for Eaglescliffe Medical Practice said he wanted to highlight the practice’s side of the story, but had been advised that he could not due to patient confidentiality, which he said applied even after a patient has died.