The integrated care board received a total of 1,135 complaints in 2023/24, compared to 253 the preceding year, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
The number of complaints sent to the integrated care board overseeing care in north east London has dramatically risen.
There was an almost fivefold increase in complaints made to NHS North East London (NEL), the integrated care board administering Barts Health Trust, between 2022/23 and 2023/24.
In 2022/23 there were 253 complaints, and this inflated to some 1,135 in 2023/24.
Those figures comprise both formal and informal complaints about primary care made by patients and members of the public, as well as those lodged by councillors and MPs.
The board says it is working to “improve individual experience in response to specific complaints”. NHS NEL believes the increase in the number of complaints is due a public awareness campaign surrounding the transfer of responsibility for the management of primary care complaints from NHS England to NHS NEL. Before July last year, NHS England dealt with all primary care complaints.
NHS NEL says that the increased awareness of about where and how to raise a complaint with the board was a “positive” development but it had led to “significant increase” in the number of cases it is dealing with.
In order to better deal with complex complaints, the integrated care board said it would additionally focus on “building a pipeline of staff within the organisation able to act as independent investigators”.
Using internal staff to act as independent investigators would also help to “assure” complainants that their issues were being treated with “objectivity”, the board added.
NHS NEL added: “There remains, however, work to do to embed the learning from complaints across service and quality improvement and to ensure that complaints are routinely considered in making changes to services and delivery.”
The report will be presented to a joint health committee – made up of councillors from Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham – on Thursday (25th July).
Editor’s note: This article’s headline and opening line has been updated to state that there was a surge in complaints made to NHS NEL rather than about.
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