Moaning Minnies? NHS Complaints are up.

[FionaGFG]

The BBC today reports that the number of written complaints by patients against the NHS has hit the highest level since complaints were recorded. The data from the NHS Information Centre details that the largest number of complaints were about specialist doctors, followed by nurses, midwives and health visitors. This is disturbing news as the figures don't take into account verbal complaints or those to patient liaison groups like PALS.

So why the steep increase in complaints?

If we're being generous is it all down to us the patients? Have we all turned into a society of moaning minnies? Or has our love of social media raised our expectation in terms of demands for quick appointments and treatment. Or is the media to blame for making us think that life inside GP and hospitals is as glamorous and slick as ER, House and Holby City?

Alternatively, have standards of care and 'customer service' declined due to more demand on the NHS than ever before? With new drugs and treatments we're now living longer and expecting the NHS to perform more medical miracles than ever before. Coupled with purse tightening and staff shortages is it only natural that individual service will suffer? After all retail and other sectors have seem similar problems due to the economic pressure of the last few years. Surely the NHS is not immune from these issues ?

Another factor...

However, it is worth remembering that another factor maybe at work. This is that the NHS complaints system has been made more accessible as part of its patient focused strategy. The BBC cites Health Minister Paul Burstow: "The complaints system was overhauled last year to make it more accessible to the public. It is now a single system, which is easier to navigate and patients can now complain to both their PCT as well as the provider.

"It is therefore expected that initially, the number of the complaints recorded have increased. Our recent White Paper makes it clear that the NHS must become a more patient centred service."

Like most problems there is rarely one single cause to pin the blame on. The results today are no doubt a culmination of a number of factors. Nevertheless, we hope they will enable the NHS to review and adapt to strive to provide the best free health system it can at the point of delivery. Perhaps Nye Bevan the founding Minister of public health care in the UK (bbc.in/RF32K) was way ahead of us all. He predicted that the problems facing the NHS at its creation would always exist, saying, "we shall never have all we need and expectations will always exceed capacity. The service must always be changing, growing and improving – it must always appear inadequate"

Tell us your view...

What has your experience been with Coeliac Disease?

Have you experienced good service from your GP and hospital team? Then click on the Hospital Compare section on the main menu and rate your hospital. If you've found a great hospital share it with other Coeliacs so they can choose to be treated there as well. Of if you think your hospital is poor, rate it and have a nose around for a better one as rated by fellow Coeliacs. 'Simples!' as Sergi the Meerkat would say.

Handy links:

The Patient's Association

patients-association.com/Ab...

PALS Patient Advice and Liaison Services

pals.nhs.uk/

Find your Primary Care Trust

pctdirectory.com/

For more info see the BBC article: bbc.co.uk/news/health-11083236

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I went private and have been happy with the service - barely any waiting time for appointments and procedures, although I was a tad disappointed that the hospital was nothing like Sacred Heart! I have also been treated by the NHS for other things in the past few years. Although waiting lists were longer, they always took really good care of me, apart from one hospital which I won't name (sent me home with a great big lump on my shin after a car crash, no x-ray and a "well, you ran out of the car so you are ok"). Personally, I think the NHS has been taken advantage of and been treated more as a business then a service. Giving hospitals and GPS targets was really not the way to go.

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Yes we're always disappointed when medical departments don't resemble our favourite hospital dramas! Although judging by the amount of romance, politics and lack of patient care in them that's a good thing.

We've heard lots of mixed things about Coeliac Disease NHS treatment and we'd love to know members views. Those that have gone private often report better service. Yet with so many consultants working in both the NHS and Private sector we're confused as to why this should differ so much. What do you all think?