NHS complaints - data analysis 2019-20

Healthwatch Oldham report on their NHS complaints advocacy work for the year 2019/20.  During this period, they helped 121 people.

The report looks at the socio-economic background of the people that they have helped to complain, their referral routes to the service, which GP they are registered to, who the complaint is about; the primary issue of the complaint, and how long complaints take to resolve and are active.

The report concludes with a discussion of common themes in the complaints, including communication, the paucity of complaints about NHS funded social care; GP practices’ attitude to complaints handling; access to interpreters; access to prescription medication; information and equal access to services.  The report includes a number of recommendations to address these issues.