Government unveils ‘streamlined’ health and social complaints system

Health minister Ann Keen has unveiled a new complaints system for the health and social care sector which will make it easier for people to raise grievances when things go wrong.

The two-stage system will focus on local resolution and then will allow for an investigation by the Health or Local Government Ombudsman if matters are still unresolved.

Currently there are several complaint procedures which make it difficult for people using different services to submit a complaint or for the individual service to respond.

As well as brining in a simpler and more user-friendly system, the government has stated its hope that the service sector will learn from the complaints, which will be fed directly into service improvement.

Ms Keen confirmed that the new system removed the rigid set of procedures and replaced them with a more flexible and personal process.

“It makes sense for everyone to use a more locally based system for complaints – one the public feel they can trust. It is in the interests of health and social care providers to be more accountable to their local communities,” she noted.

Last month, the government announced it was to review the criteria which outline people’s rights to receive care services.