The Department of Health this week published statistics on complaint issues and compliments received by the six Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts during 2023/24.
It also includes information on complaints against Family Practitioner Services in Northern Ireland for the year ending 31 March 2024.
This statistical release presents information on complaint issues and compliments received by HSC Trusts. It details the number of HSC Trust complaint issues received, the programme of care (POC), category, subject and specialty of the complaint issue, along with the time taken to provide a substantive response to complaints received.
Information on compliments received by HSC Trusts provides details on the subject of the compliment and method by which the compliment was received.
Information is also presented on Family Practitioner Services complaints handled by the SPPG Complaints Team.
Key Points:
The key findings presented in the statistics release are listed below.
Latest Year (2023/24)
• A total of 4,779 complaints, relating to 8,375 complaint issues, were received by HSC Trusts in 2023/24; equating to 92 complaints per week or approximately 13 complaints per day.
Complaint Issues Received by HSC Trusts (2023/24)
Complaint Issues Received by HSC Trusts (2019/20 - 2023/24)
Over half (4,365, 52.1%) of complaint issues received during 2023/24 related to the ‘Acute’ Programme of Care (POC).
Complaint Issues by Programme of Care (2023/24)
During 2023/24, the highest number (1,719, 20.5%) of complaint issues related to a patient’s ‘Quality of Treatment & Care’.
Main Category of Complaint Issues Received by HSC Trusts (2023/24)
The highest percentage of complaint issues received in 2023/24 related to the ‘Accident & Emergency’ specialty (993, 11.9%).
Of the 4,779 complaints received, the median age of the patient/client was 51.1 years.
Complaints Received by Age Group of Patient / Client (2023/24)
On average HSC Trusts took 33.1 working days to provide a substantive response to complaints received in 2023/24.
During 2023/24, 36,530 compliments (via card, email, feedback form, care opinion, letter, social media or telephone) were received by HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland.
Of the 36,530 compliments received by HSC Trusts, 16,468 (45.1%) related to ‘Quality of Treatment & Care’, 9,990 (27.3%) to ‘Staff Attitude & Behaviour’, 4,807 (13.2%) to ‘Information & Communication’, 2,572 (7.0%) to ‘Environment’, and 2,693 (7.4%) to ‘Other’ subjects.
Compliments Received by HSC Trusts (2023/24)
Last Five Years (2019/20 – 2023/24)
Since 2019/20, the number of complaint issues received by HSC Trusts increased from 6,105 to 8,375 in 2023/24.
Change in the Number of Complaint Issues, by Category of Complaint (2019/20 - 2023/24).
Over the last five years, all six HSC Trusts reported an increase in the number of complaint issues received; with the largest increase (201.1%) reported by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS).
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the largest increase in the number of complaint issues (789, 22.1%) was reported in the ‘Acute’ POC (3,576 to 4,365) (Table 3).
Family Practitioner Services (GP, Dental, Pharmacy, and Ophthalmic)
Complaints’ issues relating to Family Practitioner Services decreased (30, 14.3%) in 2023/24 compared to the 2019/20 year.
FPS Complaints Handled by Practice Type (2019/20 - 2023/24).
The information release is published on the Departmental website at: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/complaints-statistics