Complaints watchdog tells NHS 'improve complaints handling'

The Healthcare Commission has told the NHS that it needs to improve the handling of patient complaints.

The Commission, which handles complaints that the NHS cannot resolve, made the comment as it published figures which indicated that the NHS were not doing enough to resolve grievances locally.

Over a quarter of complaints referred to the Commission are sent back to the NHS because the Commission felt the Trust had not done enough to resolve the issue.

The figures also showed that the number of complaints is increasing. The Healthcare Commission said that it had received nearly 7,000 requests to review NHS complaints, since taking responsibility for reviewing the complaints last August. This compares to less than 3,000 per year under the previous system.

The unresolved complaints include issues about poor communication with patients and relatives, poor clinical practice and poor staff attitude.

Marcia Fry, Head of Operational Development at the Healthcare Commission, said: “The NHS has got to get better at handling complaints, which are an important tool for improving services. In the coming months, we will be working with the NHS to improve handling of NHS complaints. However, if the situation doesn’t improve, trusts will feel the effect in their annual rating.”

The Healthcare Commission said it was now developing new criteria for good complaints handling, which will be used to assess trusts in their annual performance rating.

The Commission is also taking on more staff and hired an external agency to help handle all the complaints. A mediation service is also being tested, which give both parties an opportunity to sit down together at an early stage to reach an agreement.

Ms Fry said: “We are working as fast as possible to get the very large number of unresolved complaints seen to as quickly as possible. These people will already be frustrated with the response the NHS has given to their complaint and it is essential that we address their concerns as quickly as possible.

“We are determined to crack this, but it can only be done if everyone else does their bit. Everyone loses if complaints are not dealt with properly at a local level – patients, ourselves and the NHS.”

(KMcA/SP)