Health Service Ombudsman Research Articles

Progress in making the NHS safer and dealing with complaints

Two national organizations concerned with patient safety-the National Patient Safety Agency and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman-have recently published their annual reports. The publications reveal important insights into how the NHS is currently dealing with the issue of patient safety, and complaints brought against the NHS by patients.

Quality of consent form completion in orthopaedics: are we just going through the motions?

Consent plays a vital role in every aspect of medicine and surgery, facilitating the patient in making informed decisions about their treatment. The recently published Reference Guide to Consent, by...

Communication & interpersonal skills for nurses Shirley Bach Communication & interpersonal skills for nurses and Alec Grant Learning Matters £17 192pp 9781844451623 1844451623 [Formula: see text

THE PARLIAMENTARY and health service ombudsman often cites poor communication between healthcare professionals and patients as one of the most important reasons why care falls short of good standards.

Investigating complaints

Healthcare professionals working in England may be aware of the role of the Health Service Ombudsman in England. But the work carried out by the local authority equivalent can also affect the lives of people with learning disabilities. Anne Carus, an investigator based in York, focuses on what forms the main body of the ombudsman’s work

Everybody's business: managing midwifery complaints

Complaints about the NHS in general and midwifery in particular have been steadily rising over recent years. The Office of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is the final rung on the complaints ladder once the NHS complaints procedure has been exhausted. It is a good idea to try to settle complaints at the earliest possible stage and to avoid escalation to this level. This paper identifies a change in culture and how the effects of complaints can be resolved as early as possible by all staff acknowledging their corporate responsibility coupled with good proactive management. Four common roots of complaints are identified, the role of the PHSO described and a conclusion drawn that complaints are everybody's business.

Taking up the challenge of communication

Poor communication within health-care teams and between practitioners and patients are the most frequent source of complaint registered at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The implementation of the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) has been identified as key to overcoming some of these problems by providing a seamless communication system across the NHS. But sadly the NHS does not have a good record of managing information technology change.

Cranking up a failing NHS complaints system

It has been known for some time that all is not well with the handling of complaints in the NHS. Health service ombudsman (HSO), Ann Abraham, reported on the problems of the current NHS complaints system (2005). In the report she stated:

Call for national guidance in elderly care assessment

Health service ombudsman’s report aims to reduce complaints over care funding

Professional Update

A ruling by the Health Service Ombudsman could lead to thousands of people with Alzheimer's disease being able to receive free nursing care at home.

Continuing Health Care ‐ Where Now in the Continuum of Care?

This special issue emphasises how the ‘whole system’ of care is becoming even more complex. With the pending implementation of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc) Act 2003, there are pressures on strategic health authorities and local councils to reach agreement on eligibility criteria for continuing health care. But in the wake of a special report from the Health Service Ombudsman, there is still plenty of room for debate about the lawfulness of the criteria.

Continuing care problems being resolved, says DoH.

The Department of Health in England has claimed that 'good progress' has been made in agreeing procedures to investigate cases where older people may have been wrongly denied continuing care, as highlighted by the health service ombudsman.

Complaints over care home funding 'largely justified', health ombudsman rules.

Government guidance on funding for continuing care has been 'misinterpreted and misapplied', the health service ombudsman has ruled, leading to hardship and injustice for some care home residents.

A compendium of nursing errors which could be avoided.

The latest report of completed investigations from the Health Service Ombudsman (HSO, 2003) shows the largest number of nursing errors taking place that I have ever seen in my many years of commenting on HSO reports.

Funding confusion persists

A report from the health service ombudsman on funding for long-term care has major implications for NHS funding and will require action from the government, says Helen Caulfield

Complaints must be addressed

The latest report from the Health Service Ombudsman (2001) makes depressing reading. According to Michael Buckley, the Health Service Ombudsman and Parliamentary Commissioner, whose role it is to investigate complaints against the NHS and the way they are dealt with, the public service continues to have a poor track record of dealing with complaints.

Ombudsman focuses on A&E.

Health service ombudsman Michael Buckley has focused on A&E services in his report into investigations completed between April and July this year.

UK Health Service Ombudsman's Annual Report

UK Health Service Ombudsman's Annual Report

Record keeping should be a key skill not a chore.

The Health Service Ombudsman (HSO) reports always provide an excellent teaching aid for staff in relation to legal issues, nursing, health quality and complaints. Sadly, many of the reported errors could have been easily avoided if basic clinical risk management steps such as good record keeping policies and effective communication strategies had been adopted. The latest reports cover investigations carried out during April and July 2001 (HSO, 2001a,b).

Complaints about nurses are on the increase

The cases highlighted in the annual reports of the Health Service Ombudsman (HSO), Michael Buckley, always make disturbing reading. This year is no exception, especially as the number of complaints made to the HSO have more than trebled since 1990. As always, lack of communication is high on the list of reasons for complaints, along with inappropriate treatment and lack of support (HSO, 2001a, b).

Health Service Ombudsman report: decline in quality of nursing care?

A number of cases of failures in nursing care have been revealed in the recent Health Service Ombudsman (HSO) Annual Report for England 2000-01. This article highlights some cases from the report as well as recent HSO investigations carried out over the past 4 months.