Patient complaint handling by hospitals slammed by NHS watchdog

The NHS ombudsman has warned that three quarters of hospital investigations into patient complaints, in which avoidable injury or death has taken place, do not identify serious failings in care and families are being left in the dark.

Many complainants are being met with “a wall of silence from the NHS”, partly due to often inadequate hospital inquiries.

Dame Julie Mellor, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, has petitioned for an immediate overhaul of how serious complaints are handled by hospitals. In her review, she found evidence of clear failings in 73% of cases where the trust concerned had concluded that no failings had occurred.

Mellor said “Parents and families are being met with a wall of silence from the NHS when they seek answers as to why their loved one died or was harmed.

“Our review found that NHS investigations into complaints about avoidable death and harm are simply not good enough. They are not consistent, reliable or transparent, which means that too many people are being forced to bring their complaint to us to get it resolved.”

The ombudsman also found that in 52% of the cases investigated, complaints had been handled by a doctor who was not independent of the events. 19% of investigations did not obtain evidence such as statements or medical records.

Chief executive of the NHS Confederation Rob Webster has said “We know we don’t always get this right and it’s crucial that we learn and improve every time.

“The Care Quality Commission, ombudsman and others are highlighting major inconsistencies and shortcomings in the handling of complaints and those problems cannot be allowed to continue. So we urgently need to learn from what is working and fix what doesn’t, to ensure patients have complete confidence in the National Health Service.”

Anna Bradley, chair of patient group Healthwatch England, said “Hundreds of thousands of incidents of poor care go unreported every year across the NHS precisely because people fear they either won’t be taken seriously or that nothing will change as a result.”

Chief executive of Action Against Medical Accidents, Peter Walsh, said “The ombudsman’s findings are doubly worrying, as they were only reviewing cases where there had already been a complaint under the NHS complaints procedure. If this is how the NHS investigates when there is a formal complaint, one has to wonder how it investigates when it is left entirely to its only devices.

“Unfortunately, in our experience it is not uncommon for NHS bodies to carry out investigations without even informing the patient or family affected by an incident.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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