NHS Complaints

 

Hospital & Community Health Services

Data in the tables is presented at Board level with a further breakdown by Division underneath, if available. Prior to 2004/05 the breakdown by Acute/Family Health Services is shown under each Board.  Information for the Scottish Ambulance Service and the State Hospital Board for Scotland is included in the organisation tables.

The statistics presented relate to the number of complaints submitted to ISD. This includes all formal written complaints and in some Boards / organisations, telephone and other formal oral complaints are also recorded in their submission to ISD.

Number of Complaints and Response Times
Service Area
Issues Raised
Outcome
Independent Review

Total Number of Complaints Received		2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
Scotland   (Hospital and Community Health Services only)		8,095	7,940	7,347

 

Main points for complaints to NHS Boards and their Divisions (excluding the Special Boards), 2006/07

• A total of 7347 complaints were received by NHSScotland in 2006/07 compared with 7940 in 2005/06, a decrease of 7%.

• 93.2% of complaints were acknowledged within the national target timescale of 3 working days of receipt, compared with 93.1% in 2005/06.

• 58.6% of complaints were dealt with within 20 working days (the national target), compared with 61.8% in 2005/06 and 62.2% in 2004/05.  It should be noted that public holidays have been taken into account in the response times from 2005/06.

• 33% of all issues raised were staffing issues, 27% related to treatment and 11% related to waiting times.  Within the broad category of 'staff' issues, the attitude/behaviour of staff (14.5% of all issues raised) and aspects of written and oral communication (14.5%) were the most common issues raised.

• In 2006/07, 24.6% of complaints were upheld in full and 38.7% were partly upheld.  This compares with 26.2% upheld in full and 36.6% partly upheld in 2005/06. 

Number of Complaints and Response Times

Figure 1: Number of Complaints received for Hospital and Community Health Services^1,2 , Scotland 96/97 to 06/07

¹Hospital & Community Health Services only- excludes Special NHS Boards, National and Support Organisations and the Scottish Health Council.

²Red line: New NHS Complaints Procedure took effect from 01/04/2007

Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received and response times, Health Board : 96/97-06/07

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Service Area

Figure 2: Number of complaints received by Service Area for Hospital and Community Health Services  ^1,2 , Scotland, 04/05 to 06/07

¹Hospital & Community Health Services only- excludes Special NHS Boards, National and Support Organisations and the Scottish Health Council.
²Maternity, Ambulance, Community Hospitals, Purchasing/Administrative
are included under the group "Other Services"

 Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Service Area, Health Board : 96/97-06/07
Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Service Area, Scotland : 03/04-06/07

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Issues Raised

Figure 3: Summary of all issues raised for Hospital and Community Health Services  ^1,2 , Scotland, 2006/07

¹ Community Health Services only- excludes Special NHS Boards, National and Support Organisations and the Scottish Health Council
² All issues: some complaints fall into more than one catgory

 

 Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Issue Raised, Health Board : 96/97-06/07
Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Issue Raised, Scot : 02/03-06/07
Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Staff Group & Issue Raised, Scot : 02/03-06/07

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Outcome

Figure 4: Summary of outcome for Hospital and Community Health Services    ^1,2,3 , Scotland, 2006/07

¹ Community Health Services only- excludes Special NHS Boards, National & support organisations and the Scottish Health Council
²Outcome: note that categories for irresolvable and conciliation were introduced from April 2005.
³The category "Other Outcomes" include: conciliation, irresolvable and outcome not known.

Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Outcome, Health Board : 96/97-06/07
Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Outcome and Staff Group, Scotland : 02/03-06/07
Hosp & Comm : Number of complaints received by Outcome and Service Area, Scotland : 02/03-06/07

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Independent Review

Hosp & Comm : Number of requests for Independent Review, Scotland : 96/97-04/05

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