This can include talking to the complainant and the organisation complained about, reviewing the papers, and, sometimes, seeking expert advice.

In 3,552 cases, our closer look showed either no evidence that something had gone wrong, or that something had gone wrong but it had already been put right. In each of these cases where we were satisfied that there was no case to answer, we explained the reasons for our decision, including any professional or clinical advice we had relied on.

Putting things right quickly

In 759 cases it was clear that something had gone wrong and our intervention helped put things right quickly. In 491 of those cases, we worked with the organisation complained about to sort out the problem. This is a growing area of our work and the number of cases we resolve this way has increased by 48% since last year.

In 268 cases we put things right ourselves. Most of these were NHS complaints where something had gone wrong and the organisation complained about had failed to explain properly what happened. With the help of our expert clinical advisers, we provided the complainant with a fuller explanation.

Moving forward

Working this way is speedy and effective. It sorts things out quickly for individuals, and can result in an apology, compensation or action to make sure the problem does not happen again.  We want to find more ways to resolve complaints quickly for our customers.