GPs back 'more open' complaints process

Official NHS figures for 2007/8 show the number of complaints has risen by 29 % since the previous year.

But Dr Bailey said the statistics were not part of a trend and merely a product of a robust complaints system.

‘There is a more open complaints procedure and patients are more likely to seek answers, which isn’t a bad thing,’ he said. 

The 2,009 complaints made up only a tiny fraction of annual consultations in Wales, said Dr Bailey.

‘In the context of 18 million consultations a year, if there were any less than that you would be worried whether there was a robust complaints procedure in place.’

tom.ireland@haymarket.com

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