Survey for patient watchdog finds over half of those who made complaint were not satisfied with process or outcome

A quarter of people in England experienced poor NHS care over the last year but fewer than one in 10 of them complained about it, a report by the patient watchdog has revealed.

When people did complain, more than half were not satisfied with either the process involved or the outcome, Healthwatch England said. Complaints take many months to resolve.

24% of patients had received poor care in that time – the equivalent of 10.7 million people in England.

56% took no action – and only 9% made a complaint.

20% were scared that complaining would affect their treatment.

34% did not trust the NHS to use a complaint they made to improve services.