Three GP's missed man's brain tumour and treated him for depression

Chris Buckley, 34, who died on May 2, was prescribed anti-depressants by partners at the Robert Frew Surgery, Silva Island Way, Wickford, for more than four weeks before the error was discovered after he lost the use of a hand.

Dr Oluwatoyin Ogunsanya, senior partner Dr Atef Wissa, and Dr Adegbnoyega Tayo respectively prescribed him 20mgs of anti-depressant citalopram and sleeping tablets as his speech progressively worsened to the point of being "almost mute."

Yet they currently face no further action by the General Medical Council after independent expert GPs gave conflicting verdicts on the standard of care. The 6.7x5.3x6.3cm tumour was only picked up at Basildon Hospital after he was rushed in to A&E because he could no longer use his right hand.

He then underwent a four-hour operation while awake to remove the bulk of the tumour before his condition improved. During a year-long probe an independent expert Dr Leonard Peter, hired by the GMC, said Dr Ogunsanya’s and Dr Wissa’s assessments fell “seriously below that expected of a reasonably competent GP” and Dr Tayo failed to consider other causes of the speech problem.

The case could have progressed to fitness to practice tribunals held in public which can lead to doctors being struck off, suspended or facing other action. However, the regulator closed the complaints after advising Dr Ogunsanya and Dr Wissa to reflect on Dr Peter's findings with no further action for Dr Tayo.

GMC investigators said the opinions of three independent expert GPs defending the partners, who said tape recordings of Chris Buckley's phone calls to book his appointments showed he could speak, conflicted with Dr Peter.

Grieving dad Basildon councillor Malcolm Buckley, who made the complaint, branded the regulator biased in favour of doctors over patients and vowed to fight on.

He has now raised the case with the county’s health authority NHS Essex, which has pledged its own standards investigation and to refer the case back to the GMC, and Wickford MP Mark Francois.

He said: “When the GMC employed an independent expert I would expect it to give weight to rather than rely on experts employed by the doctors being investigated.

"If a doctor can’t examine a patient they shouldn’t be in practice or allowed to examine other patients.

“I am not saying his life expectancy would have survived if it was diagnoses earlier, but he could have been treated sooner and the early part of the illness would have been somewhat better and the extend surgery could have been reduced.

It would also have ended the confusion he had about what was happening to him. He was upset he could not speak and trusted the GP’s advice even though he was not getting better.

" told him to stop the citalopram in the first week, but Dr Wissa told him to go back on it without sending him for any neurological examination.

"I plan to see this through to the bitter end and am in further discussion with legal advisers about what can be done to make sure the patients of all medical professionals are properly protected."

A GMC spokeswoman said it does not comment on investigations. A spokesman for NHS Essex said: “The Essex area team medical director has met Mr Buckley and agreed the investigation process.

As we have a duty of confidentiality during on-going investigations we are unable to comment further."

Dr Oginsanya stood by his actions, but said lessons had been learned from the case. He said “It is a big jump to say there was negligence. “It was a very unusual presentation.

When each one of us saw him there were no neurological problems, no headaches, no vomiting."

The GPs were prepared to meet Mr Buckley to discuss the care, but refused to allow the Echo to attend. Dr Ogunsanya said the doctors' union the Medical Defence Union advised against this due to patient confidentiality.

He added: "We want to answer Mr Buckley’s concerns in an honest way, but not through a newspaper."

Mr Ogunsanya said he believed Chris spoke during the assessment and that he was depressed.

He added: “He did not say he could not remember words. There was no loss of limbs and that is why I used the (depression) assessment tool.

"We are not saying there were no lessons to be learned from this case.

"We need to be more alert to other causes. Unfortunately he saw three different doctors at different times.

"If a patient comes back and has not improved we need to vigorously assess why they are not getting better."

He said now if they saw another GP, that doctor would have to seek the opinion of the previous one.

A practice spokesman spoke for Dr Wissa and Dr Tayo: “Even though Mr Buckley has spoken publicly, we are unable to discuss confidential details of patient care.

"he GMC conducted a thorough investigation and made no recommendations for action.

“We offer our sincere condolences to the family.”

Have you had an experience with the Robert Frew Surgery? Contact investigations reporter Jon Austin on jon.austin@nqe.com or 01268 469304.