National Ombudsmen
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Response to NHS Digital’s publication of statistics on NHS written complaints 2017-18

Response to NHS Digital’s publication of statistics on NHS written complaints 2017-18.

We have issued the following statement to national, trade and regional press following NHS Digital’s annual publication of statistics on NHS written complaints recently (06 September 2018). Overall complaints rose slightly compared to last year (208,626, up 0.1 per cent on last year). Data showed a rise in complaints about primary care (4.5 per cent) and a drop in complaints about secondary care (3.3 per cent). The data is here Data on Written Complaints in the NHS, 2017-18Opens in a new window.

In response to the publication today of Data on Written Complaints in the NHS, 2017-18 by NHS DigitalOpens in a new window,

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Robert Behrens recently said:

'NHS staff are working under immense pressure. It is a credit to them that the data does not show a significant increase in complaints overall. 

The NHS complaints process is an essential channel to improving public services and we encourage people to speak up when things go wrong.

We owe it to the NHS’s dedicated and skilled workforce to talk about mistakes in an open and transparent way enabling organisations to learn from them, make improvements and ensure they are not repeated.'

Background 

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman provides an independent and impartial complaint handling service for complaints that have not been resolved by the NHS in England and UK government departments.

We look into complaints where someone believes there has been injustice or hardship because an organisation has not acted properly or has given a poor service and not put things right.

We share findings from our casework to help Parliament scrutinise public service providers and to help drive improvements in public services and complaint handling.

In 2017-18, we handled 24,664 complaints and completed 2,355 investigations about the NHS. 

 

Original article link: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/news-and-blog/news/response-nhs-digitals-publication-statistics-nhs-written-complaints-2017-18

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