Ombudsman launches consultation on complaints
4 January 2010
The Health Service Ombudsman has launched a consultation on sharing and publishing information about complaints.
The Ombudsman hopes to gather a range of views from stakeholders on its proposed approach to sharing and publishing information about complaints, in the context of the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993.
The report follows recent events in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and elsewhere, which has highlighted the importance of sharing information about complaints.
The significant changes in the NHS complaints system, which came into force in April 2009, and saw the abolition of the Healthcare Commission as a second stage complaint handler, have brought about some unrealistic expectations of the type and volume of information that the Ombudsman can make available. The Ombudsman hopes that the consultation will go some way towards alleviating the situation.
The consultation will close on 10 March 2010.