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An independent review by the Healthcare Commission has revealed that though complaints of safety lapses during the handling of patients are common, NHS bosses are not learning from the mistakes. The report says that over 100,000 complaints are made by patients every year, with over 8,000 of them reviewed by the Healthcare Commission. The report added that during the period of two years from 2004, roughly 3,500 of the 16,000 complaints dealt with safety lapses including a serious mistake by the authorities in the treatment of a woman with a hemorrhage following childbirth who nearly died. Over 50 percent of the complaints dealt with the behavior of the hospital authorities in the event of death of a patient where the families were shown wrong bodies and were treated insensitively. Other complaints include the sudden removal of patients from GPs patient lists without any explanation.
Says Anna Walker, the chief executive of Healthcare Commission, "Complaints represent the raw feelings of patients and the NHS must listen and learn from them. At the centre of each one is an individual who often has genuinely suffered. Too often this was not just because of what went wrong but because of the way people were dealt with." She said that over 70 percent of the total complaints received could be ruled in the patients' favor adding that the commission will take action about complaints about the behavior of the hospital authorities in the event of a death. "Care around death and removal of patients from GPs lists are areas we will seriously follow up", she said. Lord Hunt, the health minister, has come out saying that dealing with patient complaints in a quick and effective manner was the core of NHS trusts' ethos. "The Department of Health has already taken steps to improve the way complaints are handled and complaints are being dealt with faster than ever before within the regulatory timeframe," he said.
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