Serious failings in NHS complaints system leaves patients reluctant to speak out, says patient watchdog

Nearly a quarter (24%) of people in England experienced poor NHS care in the past year, but only 9% of those affected lodged a formal complaint, according to the patient watchdog Healthwatch England.1In a survey of a nationally representative sample of 2042 adults conducted by YouGov, the watchdog found that 24% reported they’d had a poor experience of NHS care in the past 12 months. This would scale up to 10.7 million adults across the population having negative NHS interactions.To understand in more detail what actions people take if they feel let down by the NHS, YouGov boosted the initial polling sample to 2650 people who’d experienced poor care in the past year. Most (56%) took no action about their experience. Some (30%) gave feedback to the service, either verbally to staff members; raised the matter with the Patient Advice and Liaison Service; filed it in a patient survey; or…