Public reluctant to make complaint about NHS services, survey reveals
- 13.11.2015
- HannahBottomley
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As someone who deals with patients who have suffered injury and harm through no fault of their own due to mistakes made by healthcare professionals, I was troubled to read the recent article on the BBC publishing details from the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman into complaints.
The ombudsman deals with complaints against many public bodies, the NHS being one of the largest which they investigate; however they have recently found that only one third of all those who may have cause to complain actually do go through the process.
The research found that of those surveyed, 27% had been unhappy with the service they had received in the past year but only 34% made a complaint meaning that 66% of those surveyed who had been unhappy with service received did not. The research also found that people did not complain because they considered it was;
- pointless (29%),
- more hassle than it was worth (14%)
- too time consuming (9%)
The concern therefore is clear. Despite the number of people who may suffer harm or poor service and have reason to complain, the ombudsman will only ever be aware and able to investigate a fraction of those concerns due to non-reporting.
The implications of such a system are worrying for me as without being aware of issues poor care and service will be allowed to continue potentially placing more members of the public at risk.
The position being suggested is therefore for a clearer, more straight-forward complaint system which is transparent and easy to use so as to try and ensure that more of those who have cause to complain feel able to do so and that their voice will be heard.
I often encourage those who approach me having suffered harm during the course of medical intervention to pursue a complaint through the organisation responsible in the first instance and then through to the ombudsman if appropriate.
The ombudsman has much more wide-ranging powers and can sometimes try and resolve the biggest issue for many of our client: “How do I stop this happening to someone else?"