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Publication, Part of

Data on Written Complaints in the NHS - 2018-19 [NS]

National statistics

National Statistics

Summary

The NHS complaints procedure is the statutorily based mechanism for dealing with complaints about NHS care and treatment and all NHS organisations in England are required to operate the procedure.

This annual collection is a count of written complaints made by (or on behalf of) patients, received between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019. Data is published at national, regional, organisational and site/practice levels (where appropriate)

Also published on the same day is the 2019-20 Quarter 1 data for HCHS complaints, a link to this report is in the 'related links' section below.

To ensure that this collection is delivering the maximum amount of value for the minimum burden on NHS organisations, NHS Digital will be carrying out a review and consultation of all its complaints collections and publications within the next three months. A link to the consultation hub will be included here when the consultation is launched.

We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating 'NHS Written Complaints' as the subject heading, via [email protected] or 0300 303 5678


  • The total number of all reported written complaints in 2018-19 was 208,924.
  • The total number of all HCHS written complaints was 116,247 in 2018-19. This is an increase of 2,258 (2.0 per cent) from the previous year (113,989)
  • The total number of primary care written complaints in 2018-19 was 92,677.



Last edited: 11 October 2019 7:44 am