Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman annual report 2007-08 : fifth report session 2007-2008

This annual report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombusdman links lessons learned from individual complaints to the wider public for the benefit of improved services.

The Ombudsman, whose office dealt with over 11,500 enquiries during the year, reported on 926 investigations across both her jurisdictions. 290 of those reports related to government departments and a range of other public bodies in the UK: of those 68 per cent were fully or partly upheld. 636 reports related to the NHS in England and of those 49 per cent were fully or partly upheld.A number of case studies are included which show how patterns of poor administration can be identified from individual complaints and how the Office has worked with service providers to change their approach.

The report also highlights the forthcoming changes to NHS complaints handling which will see a new, simpler system in place from 1 April 2009.

Complaints that are not resolved locally by those who delivered the original service may be referred directly to the Ombudsman, so removing the current intermediate review by the Healthcare Commission.