Government consults on healthcare complaints system

The Department of Health (DoH) has announced the launch of a consultation paper to outline new approaches for dealing with complaints in health and social care.

With a view to facilitating the complaints process for patients, the report looks into how the system can be made more cooperative and responsive to people’s needs. An independent element could be involved in the process where required.

The government also aims to improve routine learning from complaints to make the system more responsive.

One of the current problems outlined by the DoH is the fact that there are separate grievance procedures in health and social care; this therefore makes it “particularly difficult” for those using a combination of services, the department believes.

The consultation was welcomed by Ann Abraham, parliamentary and health service ombudsman and Tony Redmond, local government ombudsman, who issued a joint statement saying: “It marks a significant step towards the delivery of a modern, responsive complaints system aimed at improving services for all patients and service users.”

And health minister Lord Hunt said: “We know from recent research that people find the current complaints procedures hard to understand which is why we are consulting on a radical new unified approach across health and social care.”

Meanwhile, an independent review has recommended the government strengthen the role of health visitors to maximise their impact on children and families.