Responding to the NHS hospitals complaints system review published this week, Jane Cummings, The Chief Nursing Officer for England and NHS England said: “Our single most important purpose is to look after patients with compassionate care.  That means delivering the best possible patient experience to every single patient, every single time.  As part of this we must listen, take seriously and respond promptly, responsibly and openly to any complaint we receive.  Poor complaints handling is unacceptable.

“We must learn from complaints and continue to work hard to ensure patients feel confident raising issues or concerns and that staff feel supported to respond.

“NHS England and I personally, am committed to improving how complaints are handled in the NHS and will carefully consider all of the recommendations made in this important review.”