09.04.14
Older patients suffering in silence
Nearly a quarter of older people don’t know where to go to complain about the NHS, despite using the service more often than people under 65, Julie Mellor, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, has revealed.
She stated that almost 80% of all the investigations her department carries out are about NHS services. Even though nearly half of NHS care and services are given to older people, only a third of the health complaints it investigates are about the care of older people.
Mellor said: “Complaints are a gift to the NHS because that is how improvements are achieved. Older people should be encouraged to complain and should be taken seriously when they do.
“My fear is that too many older people are suffering in silence.”
The health service ombudsman warned that older people's reluctance to complain coupled with their not knowing where to go to make a complaint could mean “we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg of serious failings in the care of people who are 65 and over”.
She added that misdiagnosis, staff attitudes, poor communication with patients and families, substandard nutrition, and patients not being treated with dignity, are just a few complaints it sees.
“We believe there still needs to be a significant cultural shift in the way complaints are handled across the health and social care system. More needs to be done to tackle the toxic cocktail of reluctance by patients, carers and families to complain and a defensive response from the NHS, when they do,” said Mellor.
This warning comes the same week the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported that hospitals need to make improvements in how they handle discharges. And, research by Fletchers Solicitors, revealed that one in 10 NHS patients have kept quiet about poor standards because they fear complaining would affect the quality of care and treatment they receive.
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