New complaints provoked by NHS ombudsman

Over 140 families have voiced concerns just weeks after a report raising the alarm about how the NHS ombudsman handles complaints made by patients.

The Patients Association, the charity which put the report together, said it had received a high volume of calls from patients who said they felt badly let down by the service, which is the final port of call for patients in England who are unhappy with the handling of their complaint by the original hospital or trust.

Julie Mellor, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said “We stand by the quality of our decisions.

“Any poor experience of our service really matters to us. The biggest driver of satisfaction with any ombudsman service is whether the complaint is upheld or not.

“We recognise that sometimes it has taken us too long in coming to a decision and that we need to get better at talking to people. That’s why we are modernising so we can provide an even better service to the tens of thousands of people we deal with every year.”

However, chief executive of the Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, says this is too little, too late, and has written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, calling for action.

In her letter, she says “If the parliamentary and health service ombudsman (PHSO) was a school or a hospital, evidently failing so demonstrably, special measures would be introduced as a matter of urgency to stop the rot and prevent the situation from deteriorating further. Why is equivalent action not being taken in relation to the PHSO?

“For the sake of the patients and their families who continue to be so badly let down by a service which is just not fit for purpose, I urge you as the secretary of state, to take action to arrest the torrent of poor practice by the PHSO. I believe that as a matter of urgency, interim measures should be put in place to ensure effective management of all cases referred to the PHSO.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said “Although the ombudsman is directly accountable to parliament, not to the department, it is clearly vital as part of our wider drive to confront underperformance and improve standards of care in the NHS that the ombudsman investigates complaints thoroughly.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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