Our response to new CQC research on people's experience of raising a complaint

New research from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) shows that almost seven million people in England who have accessed health or social care services in the last five years have had concerns about their care, but never raised them. Of those over half (58%) expressed regret about not doing so. 

The research also found that when people did raise a concern or complaint, the majority (66%) found their issue was resolved quickly, it helped the service improve and they were happy with the outcome. 

CQC is using this research to mark the launch of their new campaign 'Declare Your Care'. The campaign is encouraging people to share their experiences to help improve standards of care across the country. 

Commenting on the CQC’s findings and the launch of the ‘Declare Your Care’ campaign, Imelda Redmond, National Director of Healthwatch England said:

“Healthwatch has consistently heard over many years that the number one reason people offer feedback about poor care is to try and make things better for others.

“So when services fail to make it easy for people to speak up, either informally or formally, then they miss out on a vital opportunity to learn and improve.

“We also know that the best way to encourage people to come forward is to highlight the difference feedback makes to the way services are run. It may only be something seemingly small, like a change to the menu in a care home canteen, but to the people being cared for it is important to see their views resulting in change.  

“Setting a positive culture around feedback is a vital part of ensuring that when more serious incidents arise, these too are put right and learnt from.”

Find out more

For more information about the research from CQC and how you can support their campaign - Declare Your Care, visit their website using the link below.

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