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Undiagnosed Ovarian Cyst - dismissed by GPs

Posted By Suskh38

"Undiagnosed Ovarian Cyst - dismissed by GPs"

About: General practices in Greater Glasgow & Clyde

(as the patient),

I was in my mid-50s, on HRT, and was bleeding a lot, for months at a time. I was extremely bloated. I visited my GP and he changed my HRT. This made no change and so a month later I saw another GP. I had to take early retirement, as the bleeding was so profuse. The second GP told me to come back and be examined by a female GP when the bleeding had stopped.

A month later I saw a female GP and I asked could she examine me. She said No, I didn’t need examining, prescribed my HRT and dismissed me. At no point did any of those three GPs even put a hand on my abdomen. I was at my wit's end. I knew something was wrong.

I was fortunate in that could afford to pay to go and see a gynaecologist. I went and he pressed on my abdomen and I nearly hit the roof, the pain was so bad. He said I had a huge ovarian cyst. He got a scanner and said it was off the scale. He managed to get me back on the NHS waiting list for a hysterectomy.

I had to wait two months, walking about with that huge cyst. He said to be careful and not exercise or bend over suddenly or it could burst and I’d have to go to A&E immediately. If I hadn’t gone privately I was due to go to on holiday alone for several months and I believe it would have burst and I would have been far away from a hospital and would probably have died.  

The cyst was 30 centimetres. I had to have my whole womb and everything removed. If it had been diagnosed earlier maybe I wouldn’t have needed the whole hysterectomy. 

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Responses

Response from Callum Lynch, Project Manager, Patient Experience Public Involvement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde last month
Callum Lynch
Project Manager, Patient Experience Public Involvement,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 23/12/2025 at 11:57
Published on Care Opinion at 11:57

Hi Suskh38

I am sorry to hear you have experienced issues at your GP Practice.

I’d like to advise that GPs are independent contractors and any complaints have to be submitted in the first instance to the Practice Manager. The practice will have a complaints procedure in place where they will process your complaint as either a Stage 1 (early resolution) which they will respond to you within 5 working days or Stage 2 (investigation) which they will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and respond to your complaint within 20 working days.

If after taking this course of action you are unhappy with the response to your complaint and feel that the practice has acted unreasonably, you can contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) who will consider/investigate your complaint, the outcome of this investigation will be sent to you, the Service and the Health Board. I enclose a leaflet which details the services they offer. If you do decide to take your complaint to the SPSO, please be aware that they do not normally investigate complaints if you have known about the problem for more than 12 months before complaining. The contact details for the SPSO are:

Freepost SPSO (this is all you need to write on the envelope, and you do not need to use a stamp) Tel: 0800 377 7330

If you require any further advice/help/support then you can contact the Patient Advice and Support Service ( PASS ) who provide an independent information service between yourself and the service. The contact details are:

Tel: 0800 917 2127

Kind regards

Callum

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