Complaints about NHS in the Midlands on the rise

Nationally there were 208,400 written complaints received by the NHS during last year– up 4.9 per cent on the previous year, NHS Digital figures released today show.

The figures mean on average 571 written complaints were made every day.

The West Midlands had 14,400 complaints compared with 13,000 the previous year – an 11.1 per cent increase.

The report, entitled Data on Written Complaints in the NHS, 2016/17, shows numbers of complaints about both primary and secondary care.

It shows a 9.7 per cent increase in written complaints to GP and dental practices4 compared with the previous year.

In 2016/17, there were 90,600 primary care complaints, up from 82,600 in 2015/16.5

Of the total number of primary care complaints, 83.2 per cent related to GP surgeries, while 14.6 per cent related to dental practices.

Robert Behrens, parliamentary and health service ombudsman, said: "The NHS provides high-quality care to millions of people every year but unfortunately we still see a wide variation in the quality of NHS complaint handling.

"Far too many complaints come to us that could have been resolved by the NHS, leaving people waiting too long for answers and delaying important improvements.

"We are committed to working with the NHS to improve the way complaints are handled."

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “Unfortunately we’re not surprised to see an increase in complaints relating to GPs.

"They are the key route in to NHS services when people develop new or greater health needs, and our helpline receives more calls about them than anything else bar hospitals – within those calls, information is most often the key issue.

“We know the GP workforce is overstretched, at a time of rising demand. With GPs facing those pressures, one would naturally expect to see more instances of care falling short and patients being dissatisfied.”

An NHS England spokeman said: “More than a million patients use the NHS every 36 hours and the vast majority are satisfied with their experience, but for those who aren’t the best way the NHS can improve care is to listen to what people tell us and handle complaints well.

“Whilst nearly nine out of ten patients rate their GP services as good or excellent through our five-year plan to stabilise and strengthen GP services we have increased investment and in the coming years we will continue to invest in general practice to improve services and boost GP numbers.”