According to the Healthcare Commission, the NHS needs to ensure that it consistently acts on and learns from complaints by patients. Publishing the first audit of how well the NHS handles complaints, the watchdog says it has found considerable variation in performance across the country.
In a report on the audit, the Commission concludes: “Processes can be fragmented and applied inconsistently within individual Trusts and across the NHS. While basic processes for responding to complaints were evident, the emphasis remains on the process rather than seeking to find resolution for the person raising a complaint.”
There is also little evidence that Trusts are systematically learning from complaints to improve their services. Anna Walker, the Commission’s chief executive, said: “Given that the NHS provides 380 million treatments a year, the number of complaints (140,000) is relatively small. But when someone does complain, Trusts need to respond well. Patients want complaints resolved quickly and locally. Trusts need to show they can learn as an organisation. If they do not, it could seriously damage people’s faith in the NHS.”
The Commission found that Trusts need to make a number of changes, ranging from improving access to complaints systems for people with disabilities to improving communication of the outcome of a complaint.
The Commission will also be working on a toolkit for complaints managers. This will guide managers on the most effective methods to resolve complaints and use them for wider learning and service planning. The toolkit will be distributed with the Commission’s second complaints annual report early next year.
