Complaints about George Eliot Hospital on the increase

[dutchman]

Complaints at the George Eliot Hospital are on the rise with bosses pointing the finger of blame at a damning report.



The Nuneaton NHS Trust was named and shamed as having the highest death rate in the whole of England in October of last year.

Since then, the number of people with a problem over care, has increased with 30 complaints received over the last two months alone.

At a meeting of the Trust board, director of finance Chris Bradshaw, highlighted the issue saying he was not sure about the underlying factors or whether the hospital was doing enough to get feedback from patients.

Explaining the reasoning behind the figures, medical directorAndyArnold said: “We suspect complaints are up because of the publicity we got for being a high mortality Trust in October.

“Although we do see complaints as a good way of identifying issues.”

The Trust operates a number of ways to help gauge the feelings of patients, relatives and visitors following time in the hospital including a `smiley card’ system with people able to use green as a positive, yellow as a neutral and red as a negative indication.

Despite a dip in the number of cards handed in, the hospital is preparing to implement another method to help analyse its performance at the start of April.

“With relation to smiley cards, there will be an additional one from April 1,” added Mr Arnold.

“This one asks `how likely is it you would recommend this service to friends and family?’”

As reported in the Nuneaton News, the George Eliot was slammed for its mortality figures, with chiefs announcing an external review immediately afterwards.

The Nuneaton NHS Trust had the highest value above what is expected in terms of deaths, with 1,024 patients passing away in the year ending March 2011.