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Healthcare Commission report: NHS should learn more from issues raised by patients
NHS patients often have concerns about how their complaints are handled and want NHS trusts to say sorry more often, according to the Healthcare Commission. This body reviews cases where the patient is unhappy with the response to a complaint and now calls on the NHS to learn more from complaints made by service users. A recent report, called Spotlight on Complaints, shows that complaints about a lack of basic nursing care, poor communications, overly brisk GP consultations and a lack of help for mental health service users are among the key issues raised by patients. Over a quarter of the cases referred to the Healthcare Commission involved dissatisfaction from patients over the way their complaint had been treated, which suggests patients are increasingly concerned about the complaints process as well as the care itself. Around half of people who make complaints want an apology, a better explanation or recognition of an event according to the Commission’s research. Some 21 per cent want improvements to services or for the same thing not to happen to other patients, while 18 per cent want action to be taken against staff, compensation or reimbursement of fees. The report highlights the need for trusts to acknowledge errors and apologise where necessary, and recommends that trusts can and should express sorrow or regret about an outcome, where appropriate. The Commission estimates that it recommends an apology in 23 per cent of cases it reviews. The Spotlight on Complaints report found most of the 10,000 cases reviewed related to primary care, hospital trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts and ambulance trusts, in that order. For more information visit the Healthcare Commission website at: www.healthcarecommission.org.uk. From your browser | Email the page | Email the page link | Print the page | Add page to favourites ········································································································································
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