Millions of public service complaints going unreported

A watchdog has called for the next government to commit to reforming the public service complaints system after finding at least five million people did not report their problems last year.

Which? has today submitted a report to all the political parties calling on them to take action, saying 49% of those who had a problem with a public service provider such as a hospital, school or care home last year did not make an official complaint.

The consumer group said the figure equated to at least 5.3 million people across the UK.

Reasons putting people off complaining were feeling it would not be worth the effort (35%) and thinking nothing would be done about the problem (35%).

One in seven (14%) said they did not complain because they were worried about receiving worse treatment as a result.

Even when people did complain, just 31% were satisfied with the way their grievance was handled and half (48%) felt their complaint was ignored.

Just under half (46%) said complaining merely added to their stress and a quarter (26%) said it had put them off raising a problem again.

Those who experienced a problem with the NHS were the least like to speak up, with just 40% making a formal complaint compared with 51% for public services as a whole.

Satisfaction with the way complaints about the NHS were handled was also lower at 23%.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “When things go wrong in public services it’s vital people feel able to speak up to help prevent the same thing happening again. But thousands have told us they faced barriers to complaining.

“We want the next government to commit to urgently reforming the complaints system across all public services so that people feel confident it is worth complaining and things will change.”

It wants the government to require all regulators of public services to use complaints to trigger inspections, give people access to independent support to help them complain and introduce a single public services ombudsman to deal with complaints effectively.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards of the Care Quality Commission, said: “The findings from Which? mirror our own recent investigation of the complaints system across health and adult social care in England.

“We found huge variation where people who raise concerns about NHS, primary care and adult social care services were often met with a defensive culture, rather than one that listens and is willing to learn.

“A service that is safe, responsive and well-led will treat each concern as an opportunity to improve, will encourage its staff to raise concerns without the fear of any consequences and will respond openly and honestly to complaints. Our evidence suggests that services are not quite there yet, so more needs to be done to inspire an open culture in health and adult social care where concerns are welcomed and acted upon.

“We consider various information, including the number of complaints, to help us decide when and where to inspect. Serious concerns raised to us can lead to unannounced inspections.

“We have a role in supporting this change through our inspections. We will continue to hold health and adult social care services to the high standards that people both expect and deserve.”

Healthwatch England chief executive Katherine Rake said: “These findings echo exactly what local Healthwatch have been hearing right across the country, with widespread reports of patients being bounced around the NHS complaints system until they give up.

“Two-thirds of those who have experienced or witnessed poor care tell us they didn’t report it because they didn’t know how, thought they wouldn’t be taken seriously or were concerned about repercussions. We estimate as many as half a million incidents went unreported in the last two years as a result.

“What today’s findings show is the negative impact the current approach to complaints-handling is having on people’s willingness to speak up, with a quarter of those who did summon the courage to complain saying the experience had put them off doing so in the future.

“Which?’s call for the next government to review complaints-handling builds on the findings of our Suffering In Silence report and continues to highlight why addressing this issue needs to be made a priority. We need to ensure whenever anyone is failed by a hospital, GP or care home, that they get a compassionate and speedy resolution to their complaint.”

:: Populus surveyed 4,058 UK adults online between February 6-12.

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