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More than 3,000 written complaints a week against the NHS

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 - New report shows rise in written complaints on previous year

About 3,100 written complaints a week were made against the NHS in 2011-12 – just over 162,100 for the year.

Although this in an eight per cent (12,400) rise on 2010-11 – this comparison is affected by 23 NHS Foundation Trusts (FTs) submitting data in 2011-12 but not for the previous year.

Comparing the 501 NHS organisation (350 NHS trusts and 151 Primary Care Trusts) who reported data for both years; the rise was just over one per cent (from 148,900 to 150,900).

Today’s Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) report: Data on Written Complaints in the NHS, 2011-12; presents information reported through two collections:

  • The first is from NHS hospital and community health services, which was made mandatory for Foundation Trusts (FTs) in 2011-12.
  • The second is from family health services (GP and dental practices) – by Primary Care Trust (PCT) area; which has been mandatory since 2009-10. 36 out of 151 PCTs were unable to provide complete returns for all practices in 2011-12, compared to 29 PCTs in 2010-11. This may be due to a practice receiving no complaints in the year, or not notifying their PCT of complaints received. 

The report looks at the total written complaints in each collection, which can be broken down either by service area (who was complained about), or subject area (what was complained about). Total complaints cannot be broken down by both subject and service area at the same time.

For NHS hospitals and community health services in 2011-12:

  • Considering NHS trusts who submitted data in both years (2010-11 and 2011-12); there was a decrease in written complaints of just over two per cent (from 98,200 to 96,000). If the 23 FTs with no 2010-11 data are included in comparisons; there was a rise of just over eight per cent (to 107,300)
  • Considering all NHS trusts who submitted data in 2011-12:

-       By service area; 49,300 complaints (just under 46 per cent) were about “the medical profession” (which includes hospital doctors and surgeons), the biggest proportion of complaints by service area. “Nurses, midwives and health visitors” accounted for the second biggest amount at 23,300 (22 per cent). These are similar proportions to the previous year for both groups.

-       By subject area; 49,600 complaints (46 per cent) were about “all aspects of clinical treatment”, the biggest proportion of complaints by subject area. This type of complaint increased by just over 13 per cent on the previous year (where, for all trusts submitting data in 2010-11, 43,900 (44 per cent) were complaints of this type).

For family health services in 2011-12:

  • There were 54,900 written complaints, a rise of just over eight per cent on the previous year (50,700). However, comparison of 2010-11 and 2011-12 figures may be affected to some degree by some PCTs reporting incomplete data in either year.
  • By service area; 29,900 (54 per cent) were about “medical service”, accounting for the biggest proportion of complaints by service area. This type of complaint decreased by just under three per cent on the previous year (when there were 30,800 complaints of this type; accounting for 61 per cent of all complaints).
  • By subject area; 19,300 (just over 36 per cent) were on “clinical service” (decisions, advice and treatment provided by a care professional), the biggest proportion of complaints by subject area . This type of complaint increased by nearly 11 per cent on the previous year (when there were 17,500 complaints of this type; accounting for just over 35 per cent of all complaints)

HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said: “This is the first year it has been mandatory for Foundation Trusts to submit data about the number of written complains they receive, helping to give a fuller picture of the volume of complaints made in writing to the health service.

“Having said that, I would encourage greater input from family health services in future primary care submissions to ensure this picture can be brought into even sharper focus.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. HSCIC was previously known as the NHS Information Centre. It is England’s authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The HSCIC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
  2. All complaints referred to in this press release are written complaints. A written complaint is one that is made in writing to any member of Trust or PCT staff, or is originally made orally and subsequently recorded in writing. Once it is so recorded, it should be treated as though it was made in writing from the outset. Complaints and comments/suggestions that do not require investigation should not be included. Complaints are collected between 1 April and 31 March each year
  3. A complaint can be made concerning more than one subject area. Where this has occurred, some organisations have recorded a complaint under each subject area contained within the complaint letter received. Therefore the total number of complaints by subject does not match the actual total number of complaints.
  4. Total complaints figures have been rounded to the nearest 100, while percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
  5. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact media enquiries@ic.nhs.uk