Patients in Devon are being let down by the NHS complaints system, warns a health watchdog.

Healthwatch Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, a Devon healthcare champion, is calling for major reforms in the way the NHS deals with complaints from members of the public.

Too many with patients feel complaints aren’t taken seriously or that nothing changes as a result, it says.

A new national report by Healthwatch England on the public’s experience of health and social services found that out of 2,650 people who had a poor experience of NHS healthcare, over half (56 per cent) took no action about their care, and only nine per cent made a formal complaint.

Those who didn’t formally complain when they had a poor experience gave a number of reasons for doing so.

These included not believing the NHS would improve services, respond effectively or take their complaint seriously; being scared complaining would affect their treatment or not knowing who to complain to.

More than half of people were dissatisfied with the process and the outcome and any said the complaints process should be easier, for patients and their families to navigate.

Pat Harris, of Healthwatch in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, said: “Nationally, public satisfaction with the NHS is at record low levels but at the same time, this survey shows patients feel complaints aren’t taken seriously or that nothing changes as a result.

“We encourage local people to get in touch with us if they have had a negative or positive experience using local NHS services or complaining about them. Only then can we build an accurate picture of the necessary improvements that could be made to help make care better for people in Devon, Plymouth or Torbay.”

Healthwatch can be contacted on 0800 520 0640, [email protected] or healthwatchdevon.co.uk