Formal complaints about National Health Service rise by 8%: The NHS Information Centre said there were 162,129 written complaints from patients or their families in year to March 2012
Written complaints to the NHS rose by more than 8% last year, with the health service receiving more than 3,000 a week, new data reveals. The NHS Information Centre said that there were 162,129 written complaints from patients or their families in the year ending March 2012, an increase of 12,364 from 2010-11.
More than 12,000 of the complaints related to the "attitude of the staff", while almost 50,000 in England were about "all aspects of clinical treatment". About 10,000 concerned "communication to patients".
Andrew Gwynne, the shadow health minister, said: "This is yet another worrying sign of an NHS heading in the wrong direction. It will not come as a surprise that more and more patients are writing formal complaints. This government is throwing the NHS into chaos with an unnecessary reorganisation of the back office, costing over £3bn, that has taken eyes off patient care."
However, the government said that the increase was because "for the first time, all NHS organisations have submitted information about their complaints". The minister of state for care services, Paul Burstow, admitted that "this has led to a small rise in the overall number of complaints recorded". The Guardian
Written complaints to the NHS rose by more than 8% last year, with the health service receiving more than 3,000 a week, new data reveals. The NHS Information Centre said that there were 162,129 written complaints from patients or their families in the year ending March 2012, an increase of 12,364 from 2010-11.
More than 12,000 of the complaints related to the "attitude of the staff", while almost 50,000 in England were about "all aspects of clinical treatment". About 10,000 concerned "communication to patients".
Andrew Gwynne, the shadow health minister, said: "This is yet another worrying sign of an NHS heading in the wrong direction. It will not come as a surprise that more and more patients are writing formal complaints. This government is throwing the NHS into chaos with an unnecessary reorganisation of the back office, costing over £3bn, that has taken eyes off patient care."
However, the government said that the increase was because "for the first time, all NHS organisations have submitted information about their complaints". The minister of state for care services, Paul Burstow, admitted that "this has led to a small rise in the overall number of complaints recorded". The Guardian
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