Report shows NHS failing to learn lessons from complaints
- May 24, 2016
- EmmaArnold
The number of complaints made about the NHS to the health Ombudsman are still high, a report has revealed.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) states how 93 cases out of 133 between July and September were about the NHS,
Not only is there a high level of complaints but the PHSO also found a consistent failure by the NHS to learn from their mistakes.
Examples of complaints included the family of a woman who died after being sent home without being diagnosed with gastric ulcers.
Another incident involved a hospital delaying diagnosis of a boy with autism and dyslexia meaning he missed out on early intervention and support.
Hannah Bottomley, solicitor in the clinical negligence department at PotterReesDolan, said:
The report is perhaps not too much of a surprise as we have commented in recent weeks on the number of complaints the Ombudsman has received relating to early discharge. However, the comment that lessons are not being learnt following such mistakes is really very worrying as this is always something which we know our clients are keen to try and ensure does happen.
Dealing with individuals and families who have dealt with mistakes made by the health services, the comment I hear more often than anything else is that they would like to pursue their claim to try and ensure the same thing doesn’t happen to another patient, another family. How truly disappointing to find the Ombudsman stating that despite everything mistakes are not being learnt from.
Read some of our clinical negligence case studies which highlight examples of clients we have acted for here at PotterReesDolan for a failure or delay in diagnosis or a fatal accident caused by clinical negligence.