The Patients Association, a charity which supports NHS patients has warned that the NHS Ombudsman is ineffective and is failing families. The NHS Ombudsman is an independent service set up to investigate patient’s complaints. It is meant to be the final arbitrator for NHS complaints in England.
However, the Patients Association says it receives calls on a weekly basis from those who feel let down by the service. It criticised the length of investigations, as well as the fact that the families have to produce all the evidence. The charity says that it has now lost all faith in the ombudsman system and is no longer referring people to the ombudsman when they have complaints.
Patients Association chief executive Katherine Murphy said: “The PHSO cost to the public purse is around £40m a year, but we have no idea how it really does its job. The emotional cost for families far outweighs the huge financial cost.” The Patients Association has called for an overhaul of the Ombudsman service.
A Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman spokeswoman said: “We have embarked on a radical modernisation drive which includes listening to feedback from users. We are delighted that the Patients Association has agreed to help us draw up a service charter, which will be a set of promises to users about what they can expect when they use our service.” She also pointed out that the service was investigating six times more complaints this year than in 2013, but it had managed to maintain satisfaction levels.
Patrick Oliver, Senior Associate and Head of Clinical Negligence at Swain & Co Solicitors LLP says, “It is concerning that the Patients Association has noticed a lot of discontent with the Ombudsman service. The Ombudsman is there to help patients and investigate their cases when they feel they are mistreated. It is clear that more work needs to be done on the system so that patients are satisfied with the way in which their complaints are handled.”