Over 100,000 complaints were made in 2009/2010 and this was a 13.4% increase on the complaints made in the previous year.
On average, the annual increase in complaints per year from 1997/1998 has been 1.1%; so the rise seen this year is drastic.
The vast majority of the complaints made were against treatment received from medical practitioners rather than regarding the administration or organisation of the hospital. The complaints were not only made against doctors but also nurses, midwives and health visitors.
So what is the cause of the substantial increase? It has been suggested that the rise is partly due to the complaints system having been changed recently to make it easier for patients to complain about the service they receive. However, this expediential increase can surely not only result from an easier complaints procedure.
It seems that the NHS is not learning from mistakes and is not responding to the complaints being made by patients as, if they were, complaints would surely be decreasing. So it seems that making a complaint to the NHS does not get your opinion heard.
If you feel that your complaint has not been heard and that you have suffered as a result of poor treatment received, you may have a potential claim for clinical negligence and we would suggest instructing a specialist medical negligence solicitor to bring a claim to ensure that your feelings are heard.