§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many complaints are known to have been made against hospital staff during the previous 12 months; and if he is satisfied with the independence of the inquiry made into these allegations;
520W(2) if he will bring forward proposals to establish an independent hospital complaints board.
§ Dr. VaughanThe latest available figures are for 1978, when health authorities in England received 14,725 complaints about hospital services, representing 2.7 complaints per 1,000 patients. The number of complaints concerned with staff is not recorded centrally.
521WI am not wholly satisfied with the present arrangements for investigating complaints, but a prerequisite for any revision is to establish the principles for dealing with those which involve clinical judgment. The Joint Consultants Committee recently put proposals to me on this matter. I have suggested to the chairman of the committee that these proposals should be discussed between members of the committee and officials of the Department, and have emphasised to him my wish that we should press ahead quickly towards a full and satisfactory solution to the problem. Meanwhile, I do not intend to make any changes in existing arrangements.