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?

Yes that's what I thought and I got the doctor who did the EPRC to confirm as much. Although this is the same doctor who argued over me in pre-op with the anesthetist about the type of anasthetic to give me because I might bleed to death on the table. It was pretty terrifying I can tell you.

welcome fio x

I complained about the care I received over the course of 3 mcs. I got a not very satisfactory letter, but some of the things I complained about changed( for instancde if you were diagnosed with a mc in the antenatal scan, you were just told to take yourself off to the EPAU and had to walk through dept of pg women, find the ward, explain to someone over the intercom what was up etc, now someone takes you there directly).
My theory is that if no one complains, nothing can change.

Fio - you do know that you can still make a proper complaint on behalf of your dd? My understanding is that you can until they're 21. You only have 3 years to do it for yourself.

krabbie - I complained about two incidents involving my dd. Well - complained probably isn't the right term - I wrote to the hospitals concerned to ask for an explanation. In the first case nothing was ever confirmed in writing to us but I had a verbal apology from the paeds term and a face to face discussion about what could change for the better. I'm not sure that anything has but there you go.

In the second case I received a written apology and an assurance that protocols would be changed. I recently e-mailed them to check that the new protocols were still in place after there was a report in the newspapers regarding the death of a child in the exact same circumstances - although at a different hospital. I was assured that they were; hopefully its mean't others haven't had the same experience we had.

I made a complaint about the protocals following suspicious findings during a newborn baby check. Had protocols been in place, or followed had they been there, my son would have been diagnosed with his condition much sooner and would have saved my family so much stress and heartache and I shudder to think we nearly lost him. I did get a letter of apology and was told that ds2's case had been highlighted and changes made. However, I don't feel anything has changed after learning that another child died from similar circumstances earlier this year.

If you complain you should understand the medical profession is little short of a mafia and they stick together like glue.They are impossible to sack and have a job for life so no wonder.The nhs is good in spite of them not because of them.They are the only profession that still has an unbreakable monopoly. I am presently investigating a consultant scam were they print patient letters but do not post them to get themselves free time and as the nhs keeps no records on why a patient did not turn up it's almost impossible to prove and the patient is blamed.Keep all your records.

I would be very interested to see if this has happened to any one on this site.If you suspect this scam has affected you I would like to know.Remember if you check up with the appointments department ask if the letter was POSTED as well as printed

Please ask your friends if they have been affected by appointment letters not arriving as this scam may be wide spread

Do you work for the nhs mophead. Not sure how consultants would gain from that . Is it just a personal thing you believe in

My brother died at the Whittington hospital suddenly on August 16th this year. I was listed as next of kin.
They didn't allow me to go to the hospital nor tell me he was dead until lunchtime the following day!
I have been trying to get his belongings from the hospital since and i have got nowhere. No one has explained what on earth has happened. He was sent to the coroner and that was all.
Zero dignity in death.
Avoid the Whittington hospital!

@Mophead123

If you complain you should understand the medical profession is little short of a mafia and they stick together like glue.They are impossible to sack and have a job for life so no wonder.The nhs is good in spite of them not because of them.They are the only profession that still has an unbreakable monopoly. I am presently investigating a consultant scam were they print patient letters but do not post them to get themselves free time and as the nhs keeps no records on why a patient did not turn up it's almost impossible to prove and the patient is blamed.Keep all your records.

Your first sentences are oh so true.

Many years ago I made a complaint re a GP whose dilatory behaviour endangered my life.

It went to a tribunal ; the very first such event in that whole area.

The dr LIED. Bare faced lies, and I was so stunned I failed to cope with appropriate words. Gobsmacked I was.

So she was not dealt with.

BUT years after left that area we checked and she is no longer registered to practise . We knew at the time that there had been problems with her in a previous practice

Once when a problem re social services was not being dealt with, medical related, a senior social worker took to aside and quietly said that I did not know what was going on/being done behind the scenes. I take great comfort in that.

It always reminds me of something in a book,... Kick one and they all limp.

We complained about the care / or lack of care and medication issues when my mum was in hospital , by the time it had been investigated she had unfortunately died at home . She had been in and out of hospital for 6 months and I had experienced numerous issues particularly around the giving of medication . We got the normal, sorry this happened , we accept that errors were made , here’s our excuse and we will train people better . It’s bollocks because the same hospital is in the local press at least once / twice a month with the same kind of complaint however I felt I owed it to my mother and indeed other elderly people who don’t have someone to stick up for them to actually complain officially .

I complained around the care and death of my Dad.
He had an AAA that was leaking, the understaffed ward knew, didn’t document it and therefore my Dad passed away very suddenly as we were preparing to take him home.
The Doctor only divulged what has happening in a conversation a few hours before he died.
I complained to the Hospital and the Ombudsman, but because nothing had been documented and the conversation was recorded the matter was dropped.

*wasn’t recorded that should have read!