MORE than 700 formal complaints were made to the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust in 2023/24.

According to the trust's 'Complaints, PALS and Patient Experience Annual Report 2023/24', there were 763 formal complaints made last year.

And that was a "slight increase" in the 750 formal complaints that were lodged in the previous year (2022-23).

Of the complaints made, 327 were reported to relate to medical care and 224 to communication.

Other complaints were reported to relate to delayed treatment/appointment (152), nursing/midwifery care (130) and attitude of staff (55).

The departments that were the focus of the highest number of those complaints – according to the report – were emergency medicine (123) and trauma and orthopaedics (73), gynaecology (71) and acute medicine (53).

According to the data 757 formal complaints were closed during the 2022/3 period. And of those closed 128 were upheld, 437 were partially upheld and 192 were not upheld.

Meanwhile, according to the report there was also an increase in the number of compliments received by the Trust – increasing from 260 in 2022/3 to 352 in 2023/24.

The report was included in papers published in advance of the latest meeting of the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust Board earlier this month (September 11).

However the report was not discussed by the board on the day – and it will be considered by the board at a later date.

Following the meeting a spokesperson from East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust said that they were keen to hear feedback – and over the past year had encouraged staff to formally log all feedback received.

"Listening to what our patients and visitors have to say is extremely important to us, and it is one of the ways that help us improve our patient experience," said the spokesperson.

"We are always keen to hear feedback, positive or otherwise, on our services from patients and visitors to the Trust.

"Over the last year, we have been encouraging staff to formally log all feedback they receive from patients to the patient experience team so that it's captured in our system, as well as encouraging patients and visitors to submit their feedback, including compliments, via our website.

"We are pleased to see the increase in compliments to our Trust, and we hope to see this continue in the future.

"We have had a small increase in complaints to the Trust, mostly due to increased patient waiting list times resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, which is affecting the NHS overall."