Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) received 112,754 complaints during the year 2014/15, the most (22,725) in London, and the least in the comparably less populated region of Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral (2,370), new Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) data reveals.
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) received 112,754 complaints during the year 2014/15, the most (22,725) in London, and the least in the comparably less populated region of Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral (2,370), new Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) data reveals.
In terms of commissioning groups specifically, West Hampshire CCG had the most complaints with 187, Dorset CCG with 121 and Wiltshire CCG had 114. Newham CCG, City and Hackney CCG, and Tower Hamlets CCG had the least as they did not receive any complaints in 2014/15.
Data was collected via two forms, the KO41a (NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS)) and KO41b (Family Health Service (GP including Dental) (FHS)).
The total number of all reported written complaints was 205,000. This is the equivalent of more than 3,900 written complaints a week and 562 per day.
The NHS complaints procedure is the statutorily-based mechanism for dealing with complaints about NHS care and treatment and all NHS organisations in England are required to operate the procedure. The collection also captures complaints about NHS Direct and walk-in centres.
This total number can be broken down into complaints about hospital and community health services (HCHS) and family health services including dental (FHS).
The total number of all HCHS written complaints has increased by 6,470 (5.7%) from 114,000 in 2013-14 to 121,000 in 2014-15. Complaints for Trust administrative staff have seen an increase of 23.2% from 8,320 in 2013-14 to 10,300 in 2014-15.
The number of complaints for the subject area appointments, delay/cancellation (outpatient) has increased by 1,720 (19.1%) from 9,040 in 2013-14 to 10,800 in 2014-15.
However, the biggest proportion of HCHS written complaints by profession were for the medical profession (which includes hospital doctors and surgeons) with 45.4% (54,900) of all HCHS written complaints
In comparison, the total number of all reported FHS written complaints in 2014/15 was 84,500, 41.7% (35,300) for the medical service area, and 37.4% (32,700) of these were for the subject area clinical.
From April 2011 (in line with the Government’s Transparency Agenda) it became mandatory for all organisations to supply the information. Prior to April 2011 foundation trusts (FTs) only supplied data voluntarily therefore it was not possible to make year on year comparisons before 2011.
