The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has been looking at who is coming to them to complain about poor service – and, alarmingly, it has found that South Asian and Muslim women are less likely to complain about their NHS treatment than white British women. When the findings came to light, the Ombudsman set up Focus Groups with South Asian and Muslim women to discuss what was going wrong. These revealed that some of this reluctance to complain comes because some women fear that they will face repercussions. Those who had complained to the NHS, revealed that they were made to feel “inferior” and that they “were in the wrong for complaining.”
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said: “We are worried that South Asian and Muslim women’s voices are going unheard because they are less likely to complain about their NHS treatment than white British women. Almost four out of ten of people who are unhappy with public services do not raise a complaint, because they do not believe it will make a difference. We want South Asian and Muslim women to feel confident in making a complaint about their NHS treatment and to know that complaining can make a difference.
“Our service is here for people who are not satisfied with the response from the NHS to their complaint. Last year we completed 2,199 investigations, six times as many as last year, giving more people closure on their complaint and using this insight to help improve public services.”
The Ombudsman Service has now launched an outreach campaign, as part of which they are sending out 25,000 leaflets in five different south Asian languages – Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu – explaining how to complain about the NHS treatment.
More than 5,000 posters in six different languages are being sent to advocacy groups in the five cities which have a high proportion of south Asian residents: Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester, Manchester and the two London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham. A television advert in Hindi is also being shown on a cable channel seen by 1.3million viewers, for two months encouraging south Asian women to complain.
•The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman was set up by Parliament. It is the final step for people to complain to when they have been treated unfairly or received a poor service from the NHS in England (hospitals, GP practices and NHS dentists) or a UK government department or agency. Its role is to investigate complaints fairly, without taking sides and make recommendations to put things right, to prevent the same problem from happening again. Remedies can include an apology from the organisation to the complainant, a financial remedy, action plans to ensure mistakes are not repeated, staff training, changes to policy and procedures. They can also be correcting a medical record, reinstating patients on GP lists and reviewing treatment and care provided. Where the Ombudsman sees big and repeated mistakes, it works with others to develop system-wide solutions. Its powers are set out in law and the service is free for everyone.
•For more information on how to make a complaint to the Ombudsman, go to: http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint/how-to-complain or email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk or ring: 0345-015 4033 or write to: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP