The NHS performance has been described as ‘patchy and slow’ by the Health Service Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, who warns ‘the NHS is still not dealing adequately with the most straightforward matters’. Today, the office of the Health Service Ombudsman will be publishing a new report on the complaint handling performance by the NHS in England. The Listening and Learning report features previously unpublished information about complaints that the NHS has failed to resolve locally.
In 2010 – 2011 the Ombudsman’s Office received over 15,000 complaints about the NHS. Key findings of the report include:
• More complaints were received about hospital, specialist and teaching trusts than any other group – 6,924 complaints (46 per cent).
• Primary care trusts and GPs accounted for 18 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, of all complaints. • The Ombudsman secured nearly £500,000 for patients to help remedy injustice caused by poor care and poor complaint handling.
• A particular point of interest in the report was complaints regarding removal of patients from their GP practice’s list, which accounted for 21 per cent of all complaints about GPs investigated by the Ombudsman.
• Two of the most common reasons people gave for being dissatisfied with how the NHS had handled their complaint were poor explanations and no acknowledgment of mistakes.
• Two of the most common reasons complainants gave for being dissatisfied with the NHS in the first place were clinical care and treatment and poor communication.
• 230 complaints were resolved quickly and informally through the Ombudsman’s ‘intervention’, and a further 351 complaints were accepted for investigation.