Anyone made an NHS complaint? Is it worth it?

[krabbiepatty]

I really would like to do something to help prevent someone else having the bad experience I had but am not sure whether the complaints procedure is worth bothering with. Has anyone tried it and found it worthwhile?

[My2Weegirls]

it's worth doing! otherwise how are they to know what needs to be improved/changed? all complaints have to be dealt with following a protocol.

[krabbiepatty]

Yes I see your point, my2. But has anyone done it? What practical good came out of it?

[Sunshinemummy]

My son was born in March 2006 and I still haven't received my maternity notes to make my formal complaint. Although I still get cross every time I think about what happened to me, I'm not sure I've got the patience to keep pursuing it.

[bluejelly]

I spoke to my local health trust and they supported me in raising a complaint against a gp, which was upheld. I think it's worth it.

[krabbiepatty]

Hi, sunshinemummy, I rather wondered whether notes would "go missing" and the like. Given the chaos and ineptitude which are the basis of my original complaint, it is hard to imagine the procedure itself being much cop...

[krabbiepatty]

That's interesting, bj, but did that change anything in terms of how your GP did things?

[Sunshinemummy]

Yes that's what happened in my case. It took them six months to get the notes relating to my ERPC to me, but then they 'lost' my maternity notes. I did get a call in August saying they had found them but nothing since. Also part of the problem is that the person I'm dealing with changes every five minutes so I have to keep explaining things from the start (which was part of the problem with my care). I know I really should pursue it, and have been told by a specialist solicitor that I have a case, but I can't believe all the effort it's taken to get pretty much nowhere.

[pucca]

Krabbie...I have.
See here for full details... here

I got a reply, but felt i had wasted my time really,nothing came out of it, i got a apology for what happened, and what may affect my daughter's foot for the rest of her life.

[pucca]

Oh and i did the whole PALS thing, they were a waste of space for me.

[My2Weegirls]

don't know where you are, but here's some stats on nhs complaints - including resolution etc

england
www.performance.doh.gov.uk/nhscomplaints/index.html

scotland
www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nscl.asp?ID=6307

ps sorry typing one handed her as baby is sleeping curled up on me

[krabbiepatty]

Sunshine - was your issue about how your birth was dealt with? Pucca - I rather feared that what you say would be true - I am not really after an apology, what I want is for them to undertake to improve their systems so other people don't have the same experience I had. I am sorry you didn't get a better resposne.

[krabbiepatty]

Thanks My2 - it all feels a bit like going through motions rather. I wonder if there is a better way to try and get some improvement. I was a bit appalled to hear on Radio 4 this morning about the NHS surpluses - I could tell them where to spend the money...

[Camillathechicken]

FWIW, i attend a monthly maternity care forum for our local hospital,and complaints are looked at carefully, and issues and trends are noted, so that things can be changed. so it should be worth it.

[krabbiepatty]

Thanks, Camilla, not in my case a maternity issue, but that is interesting.

[Sunshinemummy]

KP my complaint is about the run up to the birth, the fact that they left an 8cm by 5cm piece of placenta inside me after my EMCS and then the dreadful treatment I got when that became infected and I had to go back in for an ERPC.

[Camillathechicken]

that is terrible, sunshine mummy.

[krabbiepatty]

Ah that sounds horrible, sunshine, sorry to hear about it.

[krabbiepatty]

Did your complaint have an outcome fio?

[TellusMater]

I haven't, but I wish I had.

[Sunshinemummy]

It does make me cross when I think about it all properly. It was horrible at the time but I was so relieved when they got it out as I felt better immediately but it was DP who was furious at the treatment and insisted I complain. Almost two years later...