Making a complaint is a right enshrined in the NHS Constitution. Yet, our research found a number of barriers that prevented people from making a complaint about their healthcare.
Research from the Health Watchdog has found serious failings in how the service listens to and responds to patient feedback.
It highlighted that “the patient voice is simply not loud enough. There are real problems in responsiveness of services to the people they are intended to serve.
The poll conducted by YouGov, found that out of 2,650 adults living in England who had a poor experience of NHS healthcare, over half, 56%, took no action about their care, and fewer than one in 10, nine per cent, made a formal complaint.
Around a third of respondents, 34%, didn’t believe the NHS would use their complaint to improve services while a third, 33%, thought NHS organisations wouldn’t respond effectively to their complaint and Thirty percent didn’t believe the NHS would think their complaint was serious enough;
Chief Executive Louise Ansari says:
“We know that public satisfaction with the NHS is at record low levels, with too many patients receiving poor care. When patients feel their complaints are not taken seriously or don’t take any action due to a complex system, services miss out on vital information to help them improve.
“We flagged failings with the NHS over a decade ago, following the patient safety scandal at Mid Staffordshire Hospital. Ten years on, our research shows that the public still lacks confidence in the NHS complaints system.
“We need a step change in how people’s complaints are handled and acted on. Healthcare leaders should focus on developing a culture of listening and learning from complaints across the sector.
“Making it easier for patients and families to navigate the complaints system through the NHS App, setting mandatory response times, and measuring people’s satisfaction with the process and the outcomes from complaints will be a key part of this.”
