Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what procedures are in place for NHS hospital complaints to be processed in a timely fashion; and what recourse patients and their relatives have in the event of delays in the processing of such complaints.

The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 provide the legislative framework within which complaints to the National Health Service must be handled. When a complaint is acknowledged, the organisation receiving the complaint must offer to discuss with the complainant the period within which the response is likely to be sent. There is a further requirement in the regulations for local arrangements to ensure that complaints are dealt with efficiently. Where a complainant believes their complaint has not been handled in a timely manner, they may complain to the commissioner of the service.

If a complainant is unhappy with an outcome at a local level, they can refer the matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) who is independent of the NHS and Government. However, the PHSO normally requires a complaint to have been subject to ‘local resolution’ although she has powers to intervene prior to this if deemed necessary. Whilst the PHSO wishes to encourage the local resolution of complaints, if a complaint is unduly or unreasonably delayed at a local level a complainant can contact the PHSO and ask them to intervene.