Survey reveals only one in three NHS patients complain

A survey conducted by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has revealed that only one in three people who believe they have had a poor service by the NHS actually complain.

The most common reason for not complaining was a doubt that it would make a difference, followed by fears that it would be too much hassle, not knowing who to complain to and worries that the complaint would not be taken seriously.

The results of the survey of 4,623 people were echoed by a report from Healthwatch England, a patient advocacy group, which revealed that only 21 per cent of patients who have a poor experience with the NHS write a letter of complaint.

As only written complaints are formally recorded and reported on by the NHS, Healthwatch England said that the 174,872 reported complaints last year may have been significantly underestimated, and if the figure represents only 21 per cent of potential complaints, the true figure of incidents may be as high as 657,851 a year.

The Government is planning to bring about a single Public Service Ombudsman which covers all public services for England and all services within the UK which are not devolved, and reform of the NHS complaints process was outlined in the Queen’s Speech last month.

Chair of Healthwatch England, Anna Bradley, has said that they estimate that around 2,000 episodes of poor care were taking place daily throughout the UK’s health and social care system.

She said “On Monday, we will be writing to [Health Secretary] Jeremy Hunt on behalf of the thousands of patients we have spoken to and the many hundreds of thousands whose concerns have fallen into a black hole, outlining how we can use the draft bill to fix the complaints system once and for all.”

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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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