Our response to Healthwatch England's complaints system report

15 Oct 2014 02:49 PM

Healthwatch England have recently published a report calling for renewed efforts to create a compassionate complaints system.

In response, Prof Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals at the Care Quality Commission, said: "This is a very timely report from Healthwatch England. Investigating how the NHS listens to and acts on complaints and concerns from its patients is a vital part on our new inspection regime that we are formally rolling out this month.

"Feedback from people who use services is a crucial way for the NHS to learn from its mistakes and to improve. Patients should feel comfortable and know how to raise any concerns or grievances they have and be confident that these will be acted upon.

"An NHS trust’s ability to do this is certainly something that my inspection teams focus on during their visits. If improvements are required, this will be reflected in our reports and in the ratings that we award providers, from Outstanding through to Inadequate."