§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) on how many occasions in the last five years for which figures are available health authorities have been sued by patients complaining about clinical judgment; in what proportion of these cases an out of court payment was made; and in what proportion a payment followed a court case;
(2) in how many cases, after a clinical complaints procedure had been carried out, an ex gratia payment was made to a complainant in the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. WhitneyI regret that this information is not available centrally.
Written complaints relating to NHS hospital services, England Number of Complaints Type of complaint 1982 1983 1984 (provisional) Total number of written complaints 16,218 19,255 22,354 Proportion of written complaints wholly or partly clinical 43.2 42.5 42.1 Method of investigation: By health authority officers 16,014 19,033 22,137 Referred to health authority members: *Further action unnecessary 103 80 78 †Investigation by members 33 58 27 ‡Independent inquiry 4 11 13 ║Investigation by two independent consultants ¶32 59 69 Method yet to be decided 32 14 30 * "Further action unnecessary" refers to complaints reported to the Authority (or an appropriate Sub-Committee) for decision as to further action, where the decision was that further investigation was unnecessary.
† "Investigation by members" means the procedure in para 7(111) (a) of HM(66) 15, modified by the co-option of one or more persons independent of the Authority concerned. (Recommended in Department's letter "Arrangements for ad hoc Committees of Enquiry" of 9.12.66).
‡ "Independent inquiry"—the procedure in para 7(111) (b) of HM(66)15.
║ Investigation of complaints concerning clinical judgement (as set out in Part III of HC(81)5).
¶ Cases investigated 1.9.81 to 31.12.82.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will categorise the reasons why some cases referred to the clinical complaints procedure were found unsuitable for review.
§ Mr. WhitneyCases have been found unsuitable for review because the complaint was not of a substantial nature or was likely to be the subject of action by the health authority or through the courts; or because the length of time which had elapsed since the actions giving rise to the complaint made a review impracticable.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to changes in the number and proportion of cases of complaint made to the Health Service Commissioner which he had to reject because they involved clinical judgment since the introduction of the clinical complaints procedures in 1981.
§ Mr. WhitneyInformation is not available in the form requested. The following is taken from the annual reports of the Health Service Commissioner:
Period (1 April to 31 March) Total cases Clinical judgment rejections Concluded Rejected Total Percentage of all rejections 1979–80 570 418 115 27.5 1980–81 676 517 128 24.8 1981–82* 699 561 145 25.9 1982–83 786 671 220 39 1983–84 889 584 222 38 1984–85 798 445 150 34 * The clinical complaints procedure was introduced on 1 September 1981.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many written complaints have been made to hospital authorities in the last three years for which figures are available; how the complaints were investigated; and what proportion involved clinical judgment.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information requested is given in the table.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the representations he has received, and their sources,, which have recommended that the Health Service Commissioner should be allowed to consider complaints involving clinical judgment.
§ Mr. WhitneyI am aware of only one such representation since the introduction of the clinical complaints procedure in September 1981. This was made by the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. Wardell) in May 1985.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give for each year for which figures are available since the clinical complaints procedure was started, the figures for (a) the number of complaints referred to regional medical officers, (b) the number and proportion which were given independent reviews, (c) the number and proportion thought to be unsuitable for independent reviews, (d) the number and proportion withdrawn voluntarily, (e) the number and proportion completed and (f) the number and proportion in which it was found that there was some failure of clinical judgment.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe available information is as follows:
Clinical Complaints, England Referrals to RMOs 1 September 1981 to 31 December 1984 Cases completed Total Rejected/Withdrawn Resolved locally* Independent review Cases pending at end of period 1981–82† 108 50 26 32 76 1983 146 60 27 59 38 1984 190 77 45 69 89 * Resolved at stage 2 of the procedure laid down in part III of the annex to HC(81)5.
† Procedure came into operation 1 September 1981.