WIREDGOV

Ann Clwyd MP and Professor Tricia Hart have recently published their review of the NHS hospital complaints system "Putting Patients Back in the Picture".

In response to the Clwyd Hart Review, Dame Julie Mellor said:

"We know from the cases we see that the Clwyd Hart report needed to address the "toxic cocktail" of reluctance by patients, carers and families to complain combined with a defensive response when people do complain. Tackling this issue is vital if we are to deliver the step change in complaint handling that is needed to achieve justice for patients and help learning and improvement by providers. This will help to restore the public's confidence in the NHS and ensure the same mistakes don't happen again.

"We believe that many of the recommendations in the Clwyd Hart report will help address the issues we have raised. Together they echo our call for changes in culture and practice in the use of learning from feedback and complaints from ward level to board level.

"We welcome the focus on greater independence in the operation of the complaints system. We are completely independent of government and the NHS, and are the final adjudicator on complaints about NHS services. We believe our service has a significant contribution to make to increasing independence in the complaints system for both patients and NHS hospitals.

"As a result, we are pleased to announce today that our decision last year to enable more people to use our service is paying off. In the first six months of this financial year we have already taken on nearly three times more cases for investigation than in the whole of last year. We expect to create capacity to investigate and resolve 3,000 health cases per year by the end of 2014/15."

Notes to editor:

1. The Health Service Ombudsman was set up by Parliament to help both individuals and the general public. We are not part of the NHS. The Ombudsman's role is to investigate complaints that individuals have been treated unfairly or have received poor service from the NHS or NHS funded services. The service is free to use and open to everyone. 
2. If someone is unhappy about the service they have received from the NHS in England they should first make their complaint to the department or organisation in question and give them the chance to respond. If they're not happy with how their complaint is dealt with, they should contact the Ombudsman – call 0345 015 4033 or email phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk.
3. For media enquiries, contact the Ombudsman's Press Office on 0300 061 4996/4272 or email press@ombudsman.org.uk.