Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many patients used the complaints procedure of their local GP surgery in England in each of the last five years; and what was the average length of time GP surgeries in England to investigate patient complaints and to provide a response.
The following table shows the number of complaints received by general practitioners (GPs) in the past five years, and is derived from the document, ‘Data on Written Complaints in the NHS 2021-22’. A copy of this document is attached.
Year | Number of complaints |
2021/22 | 99,459 |
2020/21 | 72,087 |
2019/20 | Not available |
2018/19 | 72,356 |
2017/18 | 75,782 |
The data collection for GP practices was suspended in 2019/20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so data for that year is unavailable. Data on the length of time that it took GP surgeries to investigate and provide a response to complainants is not collected centrally.