Using evidence from our casework, we published separate reports on the complaint handling systems across government and the NHS.

In our report, Responsive and Accountable?, we included a survey of complaint handling by government departments and agencies that revealed varying systems, with members of the public being required to navigate anything between one and four stages of a local complaints procedure before they could bring their complaint to us.

Our health report, Listening and Learning, focused on two themes; the unfair removal of patients from GPs’ lists and poor communication.

Following the publication of the reports, we hosted meetings of complaint handlers from across both government and the NHS to share the key messages from the reports and to ensure that learning from our casework filtered down.

All of our published reports are available on our website at www.ombudsman.org.uk/reports.

Moving forward

We want to use our  expertise to help the government and the NHS handle complaints better.