Further to my letter to you of 10 July, I can now provide you with details of the formal complaints received concerning aspects of care of military patients at Birmingham hospitals.

  As Julie Moore told you on 21 June at your hearing in Birmingham, seven military patients (two last year and five this) have complained formally to the University Hospitals of Birmingham Foundation Trust (UHBFT). All have been dealt with by the Trust, in consultation with the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) as appropriate. In each case a response was sent from the UHBFT Chief Executive to the complainant, addressing in detail every aspect of the complaint and offering to discuss the matter further if required.

  The letters received relate to care received both last year and this. Two were from patients themselves, four were sent by the parents of a patient and one was sent by another NHS Trust on behalf of a patient. One complaint referred specifically to clinical issues surrounding the administration of a pain killer, and another to the inconvenience and distress caused by an operation being cancelled twice. In both cases a full apology was extended by clinical staff and the Chief Executive UHBFT. Other complaints primarily concerned nursing care and communications issues. The former category included complaints about delays in treatment and responses to requests for assistance, while the latter included concerns about inadequate communications either with the patient and their family or between medical staff involved in their care. Each incident detailed in the letters of complaint was looked into and addressed in detail in the response, with an explanation in each case and an apology for any errors or misunderstandings.

  To put complaints in perspective, patient satisfaction surveys that were initiated last December show that the overwhelming majority of our in-patients rate the overall care they have received as good, very good or excellent.

Derek Twigg MP

26 September 2007