WIREDGOV

A new report reveals (yet again) that too many people who complain to the NHS are not getting the answers they deserve when things go wrong.  This latest shapshot of investigations by the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman shows the devastating consequences families suffer when complaints are not resolved locally.

The PHSO investigates approximately 4,000 complaints a year and upholds around 37%.  When it upholds complaints it makes recommendations for the organisation to put things right if they have not done so already. Most of the summaries published are of complaints upheld or partly upheld.

The 133 cases in the report were investigated between July and September 2015 and include 93 complaints about the NHS. Incidents of avoidable death, delayed cancer diagnosis, mistreatment of patients with mental health problems and poor end of life care are among the upheld NHS complaints in the report.  These are the cases which provide clear & valuable lessons for public services by showing what needs to change to help avoid the same mistake happening again.

PHSO:  Ombudsman report highlights the devastating impact of service failures & poor complaints handling across the public sector

NHS Confed:  Response to patient complaints published by Ombudsman

Is the NHS just too big to improve?