§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many formal complaints were made by patients in each region in each year since 1987; and what were the major categories of complaints received;
(2) how many patient complaints were (a) received and (b) investigated by her Department from each of the health regions in each of the last five years; and what were the major categories of complaints.
§ Dr. Mawhinney[holding answer 28 October 1993]: The Department of Health does not deal with complaints 461W directly from patients. The table sets out the number of formal complaints made in the hospital and community health services by patients for each of the national health service regions. Information about the number of formal complaints made to family health services authorities is not
Number of written complaints, 1987–88 to 1991–92, for each regional health authority and England 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 Region Hospital Community Hospital Community Hospital Community Hospital Community Hospital Community England 29,956 5,030 28,935 4,338 31,470 4,700 32,996 4,307 44,680 6,399 Northern 1,346 387 1,226 320 1,460 290 1,892 149 2,236 369 Yorkshire 2,068 247 1,805 210 2,040 193 2,169 215 2,466 313 Trent 2,191 454 2,109 289 2,729 241 2,395 377 3,328 444 East Anglian 885 80 1,019 85 1,002 205 1,345 159 1,718 159 North West Thames 2,565 371 2,382 242 2,965 383 3,154 379 4,038 467 North East Thames 3,739 545 3,763 354 3,858 492 3,766 441 5,553 479 South East Thames 2,997 301 2,753 323 2,047 209 2,247 268 4,878 594 South West Thames 2,115 891 2,124 819 2,464 746 2,552 297 3,172 893 Wessex 1,497 448 1,632 210 1,735 374 1,687 375 2,649 377 Oxford 991 72 1,301 70 1,379 92 1,502 320 1,489 239 South Western 1,592 218 1,335 282 1,689 375 1,971 277 2,321 210 West Midlands 3,375 476 2,708 533 3,378 516 3,246 612 4,054 1,046 Mersey 1,333 176 1,566 237 1,423 231 1,281 224 2,216 91 North Western 2,718 364 2,667 364 2,703 351 3,020 214 3,763 712 SHAs 544 0 545 0 598 2 769 0 799 6