NHS complaints in Yorkshire rocket sparking concerns over impact of cuts on patient care

Complaints about NHS services have risen more in Yorkshire than anywhere else in the country in the past year '“ sparking fears that cuts are damaging patient safety in the region.
Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield is run by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Picture by Ross Parry.Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield is run by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Picture by Ross Parry.
Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield is run by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Picture by Ross Parry.

New figures from NHS Digital show a 6.3 per cent increase in written complaints, with 1,173 more grievances being lodged in 2015/16 than the year previous, bucking a national trend.

Total complaint numbers in England actually dropped by 4.2 per cent last year to nearly 199,000.

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A large proportion of Yorkshire’s complaints rise related to hospital and community services, which received almost 10 per cent more criticism while national levels dropped by nearly four per cent.

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The new statistics also show Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust received the second highest number of hospital complaints in the country last year. Of around 1,500 complaints made, about two-thirds were upheld or partially upheld.

Paula Sherriff, Dewsbury MP and health select committee member, said she was “extremely concerned” about the high level of complaints at Mid Yorkshire, which runs hospitals in Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury.

She said: “I will be speaking to the trust on this issue as I think it is important to understand the nature of these complaints, and I need to have complete confidence that these issues are being addressed.”

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She continued: “We understand the tremendous pressures that our local hospitals are under given the severity of NHS cuts from central Government but patient safety should never be compromised.”

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There were 18,491 written NHS complaints lodged in Yorkshire in 2014/15 before 19,664 were recorded during the last financial year.

NHS Digital statistics show that the main reasons for the complaints within hospital and community health services were surrounding patient care including nutrition and hydration, communication and the behaviour of staff.

Of the 11,433 new complaints recorded about NHS hospital and community health services in Yorkshire last year more than half of them were upheld or partially upheld.

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Aside from Mid Yorkshire Hospitals, other Yorkshire trusts to record large numbers of complaints last year were the region’s two biggest hospital trusts – Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (1,148) and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (722).

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which covers the whole county, registered 1,584 complaints last year.

David Melia, director of nursing and quality at Mid Yorkshire, explained that the trust hopes to see a reduction in complaints through analysing any patterns in grievances and using them to address problems.

He said: “It’s disappointing to see the number of our complaints increasing but we do take them all very seriously and ensure we investigate them to thoroughly understand individual situations, responding to each in the appropriate way.”

The broader picture

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Nationally the NHS in England received the equivalent of 544 complaints per day during the last financial year.

NHS Digital statistics show that trusts received 198,739 written complaints during that period. Of those, 116,180 related to hospital and community health services and 82,559 were regarding general practice including dental complaints.

Last year University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust received the most hospital complaints (1,558), while North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust received the most for an ambulance trust (2.154).

A decade earlier complaint levels were much lower, with 138,396 grievances received by NHS bodies in England in 2005/06.