How was your experience of making a complaint?

When care goes wrong and people have bad experiences, it’s vital that services put things right. But it’s just as important that they use complaints to learn and improve.

Healthwatch is unique in that our sole purpose is to understand the needs, experiences and concerns of people who use health and social care services and to speak out on their behalf.

Using the views of the public we identify where and why things are working well, and where they could be improved.

What does good complaints handling look like?

Together with Local Government Ombudsman and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman we have worked together to produce ‘My Expectations’. Published last year, the report sets out what people expect to happen when they complain or raise concerns about poor care.

People should feel that:

• they can speak up

• that making a complaint is simple

• that they have been listened to and understood

• their complaint has made a difference