This publication is a count of written complaints made by (or on behalf of) patients, received between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 in England.
As part of burden reduction measures introduced across the NHS to allow provider organisations to focus on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) data were collected retrospectively for Q1 2020-21 and the GP and Dental services annual complaints collection was not run during 2019-20. This publication is the first time since 2018-19 that primary and secondary care complaints have been presented together.
Data are collected via two forms; the quarterly KO41a for HCHS, and the annual KO41b for Primary Care (GP and Dental) services. Data relates to the complaints arrangements introduced in April 2009.
KO41a: The KO41a (HCHS) data collection was revised in both format and frequency (from annual to quarterly) in 2015-16. This means only national totals are comparable from 2015-16 onwards.
KO41b: From 2020-21 the KO41b data collection method and content were revised following a consultation (see below). This means data for 2020-21 will continue to be classed as ‘Experimental Statistics’. The KO41b data is made up of three parts:
- Complaints made to GP practices – collected by NHS Digital and labelled as GP in data tables.
- Complaints made to Dental practices – collected by the NHS Business Services Authority and labelled as Dental in data tables
- Complaints made directly to NHS England about GP or Dental services and labelled as NHS England in data tables
The KO41b data has been collected from individual practices since 2013-14 and response rates for 2020-21 are 88% for GP and 79% for Dental practices. Caution is advised when considering the timeline of response rates for the KO41b due to the different factors which have affected this return in recent years (please see the Data Quality section for more information).
Consultation
To ensure that the KO41b collection is delivering the maximum amount of value for the minimum burden on NHS organisations, NHS Digital carried out a consultation in early 2021 while the collection was paused. The questions asked, responses received and subsequent actions can be found here. Although some suggested changes could not be implemented for the 2020-21 collection year, the following changes were made;
- Reducing the number of Age Categories a patient can be reported under
- Reducing the Patient Status categories options
- Removing the Service Area category from the return
Feedback also recommended streamlining the number of options for Subject Area and Staff Group. We will look to act further on this feedback for the 2021-22 collection year.
Although this work had already partly begun, many responses suggested the collection would benefit from moving away from the spreadsheet-based system used in 2018-19 and the 2020-21 collection used an online collection method.
Please see the Data Quality section for more information on how this affects data presented in this publication.
Further Information
Guidance and information regarding the KO41a and KO41b complaints collections are available on the NHS Digital website.
This publication and previous editions are on the NHS Digital website. To inform and improve future reports contact us with your comments, clearly stating ‘Data on Written Complaints, England’ as the subject heading, via:
Email: [email protected] Telephone: 0300 303 5678