PARLIAMENTARY AND HEALTH SERVICE OMBUDSMAN'S ANNUAL REPORT

21 Jul 2005 02:42 PM

Complaints about public services matter says Ombudsman

Investigating complaints properly enables public bodies to learn from their mistakes and improve their services, according to a report out today from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Ann Abraham.

Rising public expectations about the quality of public services, and increasingly well-informed users, mean that people are now more likely to complain if services are not up to standard, Ms Abraham says. Having fair and open complaints procedures should be a fundamental part of service delivery, not an optional extra. She also stressed the need for a cross-cutting 'joined-up' approach by public service providers to complaints handling.

In her report the Ombudsman highlighted the main areas of work for her Office over the past year. As well as drawing Parliament's attention to problems with the new Child and Working Tax credits system in a report published in June, Ms Abraham reported that she had received 304 complaints which showed significant problems in the operations of the Child Support Agency (CSA). The impact on those affected can be severe and involve financial difficulties, anxiety and stress, sometimes stretching over years. The Ombudsman welcomed the Agency's decision to make payments to those who have suffered greatly as a result of CSA's mistakes. 'It is important that those affected should receive adequate redress and compensation for public service failures', said Ms Abraham.

The greatest number of complaints received by the Ombudsman's Office against a single department - 861 - were about the Department for Work and Pensions and its Agencies. Next were HM Revenue and Customs, with 348 complaints, and the Home Office, with 166.

Reporting on her role as Health Service Ombudsman for England, Ms Abraham said that two of the main issues emerging from complaints to her office during the year were about NHS funding for the continuing care of those with long-term care needs, and problems with the NHS complaints system. Each of these was the subject of a special report by the Ombudsman in the last few months. Ms Abraham said that she welcomed the Department of Health's decision to develop a national framework for the assessment of fully funded continuing care and its positive response to many of her recommendations relating to the development of a truly patient-focused NHS complaints system.

For more information, or copies of the reports, please contact Barbara Batchelor on 020 7217 4077 or e-mail
barbara.batchelor@ombudsman.org.uk

Notes to Editors

1. Publication details: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Annual Report 2004-2005, HC 348, 21 July 2005

2. From 21 July you can also find the reports on the website at: http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/improving_services/special_reports/index.html

3. The year saw a substantial increase in the number of complaints to the Ombudsman. 4,189 new cases were accepted for investigation, a rise of 988 (30%) on 2003-04. 2,214 of these were about government departments and agencies, and 1,937 about the NHS.