Record increase in NHS complaints

Written complaints about NHS hospital and community services in England has seen the biggest annual rise since records began over a decade ago.

There has been an increase in NHS work in the past decade

There were more than 100,000 complaints in 2009/2010, a 13.4% increase on the previous year.

The largest number of complaints were about the performance of doctors, followed by that of nurses, midwives and health visitors.

However there has also been an increase in NHS work over the past decade.

The data from the NHS Information Centre, which first started collating statistics on complaints 12 years ago, also included separate figures on family health services, which incorporates general practice and dentistry.

These increased by 4.4% from the previous year to 50,755.

Getting busy

More than 40,000 complaints on hospital services related to "all aspects of clinical treatment".

A further 12,000 letters were written about the attitude of staff, while nearly 11,000 complaints were received about delays or cancellations to outpatient clinics.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: "This report shows the biggest annual rise in written complaints about NHS hospitals and community services for 12 years.

"However it is important to bear in mind that there has been a substantial increase in NHS activity in England over time.

"For example, information from two of our other data collections show that hospital admissions increased by 28% between 1998-99 and 2008-09, while GP consultations increased by an estimated 44% between 1998 and 2008."