HC Deb 09 March 1990 vol 168 cc893-4W
Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to change the family practitioner services complaints' procedures.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The Government announced their intention to simplify and streamline the complaints procedures in its White Paper, "Promoting Better Health", which was published in 1987.

We consulted widely with the professions, FPCs and consumer groups about the proposed changes.

Regulations are to be laid today which will bring into effect the changes on 2 April 1990. These new regulations will make it easier for patients to file a complaint and will improve the arrangements for ensuring the complaints are fairly and properly resolved.

The changes will allow some people to make oral complaints to FPCs rather than written ones and will also extend the time limit for filing a complaint from eight to 13 weeks.

In future FPCs will be able to decide the outcome of some cases without reference to the Secretary of State. They will also be required to operate an informal conciliation procedure for dealing with complaints against family practitioners.

These changes are a first step which will help patients, including those from ethnic minorities who may feel intimidated by an unfamiliar language and bureaucracy, to lodge a complaint should they feel that their treatment has been unsatisfactory.

The next step, which was also outlined in "Promoting Better Health", is to write the regulations in simpler and plainer language. We hope to achieve this early next year.