Opticians Doing Things Right, Complaints Extremely Low

health ombudsman report shows low complaints against opticians

It seems that when it comes to the health service, and in particular the NHS, opticians are doing things right and indeed better than other branches of health care industries according to those that matter most, the patients and consumers that use them.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman deal with complaints made by the general public against a whole host of sectors including government departments such as HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Transport as well as the NHS and all the medical groups that contains. During the 2010/11 year a total of 23,667 complaints were resolved with just 403 cases requiring a formal investigation. The ombudsman has also been happy to confirm that 88% of its investigations during that period have been completed within 12 months of the initial enquiry.

During the past 12 month period, opticians have been given a resounding thumbs up in comparison to other industries in the health care market. In total 15,066 complaints were made against the health care sector, up 4% on the previous years findings. The largest number of issues were directed at NHS hospitals, specialist and teaching trusts with 6,924 complaints registered. At the other end of the scale with just 18 complaints sit opticians, staying at exactly the same level as the previous year, a proud achievement. From that, 0 health complaints were accepted by type of body.