Be prepared to say sorry, NHS trust told

Date article online: 14/04/2008

Pennine Acute Trust, which runs Rochdale Infirmary, was among the worst five in the country for the way it handles complaints.

The figures, from the Healthcare Commission, are from August, 2006, to July, 2007, but trust bosses say the situation has now improved.

A spokesman said it it had taken strong action over the last 12 months, and the highest number of complaints referred back for further action were in the earlier part of the period under scrutiny.

That, he said, was down to action to speed up responses to complaints - more than 90 per cent are now answered within 25 working days compared with fewer than half a year ago - and a greater willingness to meet people to talk about their concerns in complex cases.

The report from the health watchdog revealed people who complain want the health service to say sorry more often.

The Spotlight on Complaints report says most complaints surround lack of basic nursing care, poor communications, overly brisk GP consultations and a lack of help for mental health service users.

More than 10,000 complaints were independently reviewed by the commission, from which it recommended an apology in 2,300 cases. These were from around 140,000 complaints from 380 million treatments carried out by the NHS.

The report is the second of its kind, from the commission’s review of cases where the patient is unhappy with the response.

The number of complaints returned to trusts for further action fell to 26 per cent from 33 per cent the previous year, suggesting that complaints are being handled better by trusts when they are first made.

The commission upheld or partially upheld almost a fifth in favour of the complainant, up from only 8 per cent the previous year.

And it upheld 18 per cent of complaints in favour of the NHS trust, compared with 19 per cent in the same period the previous year.

Most of the remaining cases were either out of the commission’s jurisdiction, mostly because the concerns had not been raised locally first, or withdrawn.

Complaints centred on the basic elements of healthcare, such as standards of care and safety, nutrition, privacy and dignity.

A little more than half simply wanted either an apology, a better explanation or recognition of what had happened, 21 per cent wanted improvements so that the same thing would not to happen to others, and 18 per cent wanted action to be taken against staff, compensation or reimbursement of fees.

The largest number of complaints reviewed (38 per cent), related to primary care, followed by hospital trusts (34), foundation trusts (18), mental health trusts (7) and ambulance trusts, which accounted for less than 1 per cent.

Many of the 43 per cent of complaints about GPs related to a poor quality examination, often because it was so short, and 23 per cent - mainly cancer victims - complained of failed or delayed diagnoses.

In hospital accident and emergency departments, frequent complaints related to the failure of staff to recognise or act on abnormal vital signs and the lack, or insufficient use, of pain relief.

In maternity services, women commonly said staff did not listen to them, that they were left alone in labour without pain relief, and that midwives were too busy.