11 July 2012: In her first report as the new Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Dame Julie Mellor, DBE reveals that a record number of enquiries were received in the last year from people needing help with their complaint..The Ombudsman’s Annual Report for 2011-12 shows that 23,846 enquiries were received last year, more than ever before, with the vast majority from people who simply needed advice on where or how to complain about public services in the first instance.
The Annual Report includes real life stories of people who have used the Ombudsman’s service during the year. These include a man with learning difficulties who was wrongly placed on a GP scheme for violent patients…
Dame Julie was clearly shocked by that particular case, and referred to it specifically when interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme. The problem was not just that a man with learning disability had quite unjustifiably been placed on a list of violent patients (when all had done was to apply to be registered with the doctor as a new patient!) – but that he had then found it impossible to have himself removed from that list and to register elsewhere!
See full details in the Annual Report.