Complaints about NHS dentists rise
The number patients complaining about NHS dentists, GPs and community health schemes is rising in North Staffordshire.
Research is suggesting more objections were lodged about health services from April to September than in all of 2008.
The national Health Service Ombudsman had to resolve two of the grievances, which related to misdiagnosis and staff attitudes, and the General Medical Council is disciplining another GP after another misdiagnosis complaint.
NHS North Staffordshire, who issued the statistics, are now training more than 2,000 new health workers to handle complaints.
Twenty-eight grievances were made about health service providers in a six-month period and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) is still investigating 11 more cases.
One complaint was made about the attitude of staff and appointment cancellations at a dental practice.
Cathy Haigh, business manager at the PCT, admitted that the number of complaints had significantly increased in 2009 and said that a new training scheme which incorporates complaints is being rolled out to NHS staff in 2010.
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