Press Release

People shouldn't have to jump through hoops to complain about care, says Help the Aged

10 October 2008

Reacting to a National Audit Office report, Feeding Back? Learning from complaints handling in Health and Social Care, which shows the complaints system for health and social care services is in need of improvement, Lizzie McLennan, Senior Social Care Policy Officer for Help the Aged, says:

“Today’s report shows that worryingly, complaining about health and social care services can be a difficult and complex experience.  As the largest users of health and social care services, older people are going to be particularly affected.

“People who make complaints about either health or social care services are likely to already be in a vulnerable position. When older people are poorly or need care, the last thing they need is to feel like they can’t complain, have nowhere to turn, or have to jump through hoops to have their issues heard. Sometimes making a complaint can be as frustrating and upsetting as the original problem.

“In addition to this, older people who pay for their own care in private care homes don’t have access to the complaints system for social care.  This inequity in the system must be addressed – around 115,000 older people are affected in this way.

“If care for sick people isn’t satisfactory, it’s essential that complaints are acted upon straight away – that way lessons can be learned and mistakes aren’t repeated.  The complaints system for our health and social care services must be transparent, open and well promoted – and reducing the complexity of both systems is an absolute must.  Ideally we would like to see one complaints system for both health and social care.”