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Imperial College NHS Trust in ten most criticised in country

Summary:

The top ten includes six other London trusts and was issued by the Health Service Ombudsman.

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By Amaris Cole

NHS patients’ complaints about Imperial College NHS Trust place it in the ten most criticised in the country.

The top ten, which includes six other London trusts, was issued by the Health Service Ombudsman, and places Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust seventh.

The trust, which manages hospitals in Charing Cross and Hammersmith, received 101 of the 2,902 complaints in London in 2010/2011.

Complaint and Litigation report, issued by the Ombudsmen, announced: “The NHS is still not adequately dealing with the most straightforward matters.”

The Ombudsmen have issued another report this week called Listening and Learning. The study outlines a series of complaints that are yet to be resolved locally.

A spokeswoman for the trust which manages many hospitals in South West London said that they are happy that they are happy that the Health Service Ombudsman received less complaints this year than before.

She added: “Each complaint is taken very seriously and our complaints remain a very small percentage of the large numbers of patients we treat.”

They credit the high levels of complaints to the high number of patients they treat- last year the trust had 1.2million patient contacts.

A recent patient to the Trust’s Charring Cross Hospital, Joe Manners, who was in A and E with a suspected broken hand, said: “I waited an hour and a half for an x-ray and then was told it was 4 hours until I’d be seen so I walked out.”

Nearby Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has the second highest complaints level in the country, having received 123 complaints last year.

One case from Croydon Health Service NHS Trust involves a woman developing serious drug clots after medical staff ignored her appeals for anticoagulant drugs.

Her husband said: “My wife fully understands her needs for correct daily medication.”

He said he felt ‘petrified’, ‘helpless’ and fearful that his wife’s life was in danger.

The Ombudsman secured nearly £500,000 from the NHS for compensation for the injustice patients faced last year.

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