By Kate Liptrot
The Derby Evening Telegraph
NOTTINGHAM, England — Waiting times and concerns about care were the main causes of complaint lodged with East Midlands Ambulance Service in the past 12 months.
The organisation received 250 complaints between April 2009 and March this year.
In the same period, the service also received 409 compliments.
Of the complaints, just over a third were about ambulances not arriving quickly enough, while another third were about quality of care.
A further 11% were about the attitude of staff, including rudeness, not explaining what they were doing and dismissing patients’ concerns.
The remainder of the complaints included worries about driving and incorrect transport.
A further 1,250 concerns were raised which were resolved by the patient liaison team before they developed into official complaints.
These were mainly about delayed vehicles and the attitude of staff.
A report to the ambulance service’s board of directors said it could not compare the number of complaints in the past year to previous years as the way the figures were recorded had changed.
The report stated that 34% of the 250 complaints were about quality of care.
Issues included people querying why they were not taken to hospital or disputing the diagnosis or care that was given.
The report stated: “Each complaint is investigated and appropriate actions are taken to mitigate future complaints.”
And 38% of the complaints were about delayed vehicles.
On this issue, the report said: “In the case of 999 calls, the patient expected that when a call was made an ambulance would arrive immediately.
“Complaints also referred to the wait for a ‘back-up’ ambulance following the initial arrival of a fast-response vehicle.”
Of the concerns raised with the liaison service, 27% were about the patient transport service, a non-urgent service taking people to hospital.
Alleged problems included late arrival which led to missed hospital appointments and the length of time to get home.
During the year in which the complaints were recorded, the service had 692,936 emergency calls and took patients to 1,162,170 routine hospital appointments.
Cheryl Crocker, deputy director of nursing and quality at the ambulance service, said: “We take every complaint seriously because complaints give us the opportunity to investigate and respond directly to the concerns raised, and each one is investigated thoroughly by senior management.
“We use the lessons learned to improve and change for the benefit of the people we serve.”
If a concern about staff attitude is raised, a senior manager meets with the individual to discuss the concern.
People who complained were invited to take part in a survey, with 27% responding and all showing that people were happy with the way their complaints had been dealt with.
Copyright 2010 Derby Evening Telegraph