Many patients in Portsmouth felt ‘wrong’ criticising the NHS amid the pandemic as figures show a drop in official complaints in 2020

NHS England statistics show Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU), which runs Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, received 400 written complaints in 2020/21.

This was down from 562 the year before, and fewer than the 706 received in 2018/19.

Similarly Solent NHS Trust, which provides community services in the city, received 129 written complaints in 2020/21- down from 253 the year before, and fewer than the 608 in 2018/19.

Chairman of Healthwatch Portsmouth, Roger Batterbury, told The News: ‘Healthwatch Portsmouth is aware that during the height of the Covid pandemic that many people told us that it felt the wrong time to complain about a service that they were applauding weekly.

‘We are aware anecdotally that numbers are unfortunately rising again. It is quite right that people should feel confident now to exercise their right to complain if they are not happy about their health treatment by an NHS provider.’

It matches the national trend as hospital and community health services across England received 83,899 complaints in 2020/21 – a decrease of 26 per cent from 2019/20

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said patients recognising the pressure on health services during the Covid-19 crisis was likely a major factor in the fall.

Deputy chief nurse at PHU, Tina Hetherington, said: ‘The views of our patients and their families are extremely important to us and we take all feedback, concerns and complaints seriously.

‘Our chief executive, complaints and patient experience team review every complaint in order to identify where lessons can be learnt and make any improvements needed to try to ensure that all our patients and their families have a positive care experience.

‘We would always encourage anyone with concerns to first get in touch with our PALS team (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) who can give advice or support to help resolve problems.’

In 2020/21, complaints made against Solent were most often about patients aged between 26 and 55 – 38 were lodged last year.

There were also eight complaints about infants younger than five.

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Head of community engagement and experience at Solent, Anastasia Lungu-Mulenga, added: ‘Throughout the pandemic, Solent NHS Trust has continued to triage patient complaints and respond in a safe and timely manner.

‘We have recently established a new patient experience initiative which ensures feedback is sought early on in a patient’s treatment which alongside service improvement and our commitment to a patient-centred approach could be factors contributing to a decrease in the numbers of complaints we have received.’

There is a free service provided for Portsmouth residents called the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy Service, which provides support for people wanting to make an NHS complaint.

It can be accessed by telephoning 0330 440 9000 or emailing [email protected].

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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