Hundreds complain in Yorkshire over NHS treatment each week

PATIENTS made more than 300 complaints a week about NHS services in Yorkshire in the past year, latest figures reveal.

There were 10,500 written complaints about hospital and community services in the region in 2011-12, with a further 5,000 about GPs and dentists.

Overall, there were 162,000 complaints made in England about services. Almost half of those concerning hospitals and community health services were about doctors and surgeons while more than one in five of the complaints were made about nurses, midwives and health visitors.

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There were 54,900 written complaints about GP practices and NHS dental services – a rise of eight per cent on the previous year.

There were huge variations in the region, with the Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, rated as one of the best performing in the country for its services, seeing an 80 per cent increase to 196 complaints.

Bradford’s hospitals and the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole trust saw rises of a quarter and Yorkshire Ambulance Service faced an increase of a third, making it the most complained about in the region with 1,412.

The failure of a number of foundation trusts – among them Rotherham Hospital – to submit figures for 2010-11 makes it difficult to make a direct comparison but there was a like-for-like rise in complaints of one per cent.

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Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients’ Association, said the figures were “just the tip of the iceberg”.

“Our helpline is inundated with calls from patients who have either been put off from complaining because they have no faith in what can be a hugely difficult system to navigate, or they have gone through a process only to receive no response or answers to the issues they raise,” she said.

“Others tell us that they are afraid to complain because they fear it may have a negative impact on their treatment.

“It is crucial that patients, carers and the public feel able to express their concerns about NHS care so Government, trusts and clinicians can address the need for improved services.”

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Shadow Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “This is yet another worrying sign of an NHS heading in the wrong direction. In just two years the Prime Minister has turned a successful NHS into a service that’s demoralised, destabilised and fearful of the future.”

NHS Confederation deputy chief executive David Stout said: “An increase in the number of complaints doesn’t necessarily mean that patients are less satisfied with their care.

“Although it sounds peculiar, a rise in complaints data can actually mean that patients feel more engaged with their local NHS and want to work with it to improve.

“The NHS sees more than one million patients every 36 hours and performs hundreds of millions of treatments every year, and only a very small proportion of these ever give cause for complaint.

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“Nevertheless, in an NHS committed to delivering safe, high-quality services, there must be robust systems in place to learn from occasions where things go wrong, so it is right that NHS organisations are open to hearing from patients about all experiences, good and bad, and make it easy for patients to raise concerns where necessary.”

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: “If someone is dissatisfied with the NHS services they receive, it is right they complain, and have that complaint properly investigated.

“Our reforms to the NHS will give patients a stronger voice, and the NHS will be more accountable for the quality of care it provides for patients.

“The new patient champion HealthWatch will argue on behalf of patients, helping to drive improvements in the quality of health and social care services.”