Ombudsman receives dozens of complaints about Wigan hospitals

However that was a reduction on the number submitted during the previous 12 months.

The watchdog said the number of complaints about NHS services has nearly doubled in the past decade, as it called on the Government and health service to listen and learn "when things go wrong".

Figures from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report show 48 complaints about Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) were received in the year to March 2024.

It was down from 54 complaints the year before.

The ombudsman only handles serious injustices in the health system where the complainant has already gone through the trust's complaints process. This means just a quarter of complaints made are estimated to be taken forward.

Nationally, 28,780 complaints were made to the ombudsman about NHS services in 2023-24, a five per cent rise from 27,441 the year before.

A significant number of these (7,352) were resolved after an initial or primary investigation, while 840 were accepted for a detailed investigation.

The watchdog carried out 702 detailed investigations in the year, with 67 per cent partially or fully upheld.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, the ombudsman, said the number of NHS complaints received has almost doubled in the past decade.

She added: "Unless the NHS listens and learns when things go wrong, the same mistakes will continue to be made and patients will be put at risk.

"Instead of a culture of blame or fear, we want to see government departments and the health service welcoming complaints as a source of learning. We believe that this approach lies at the heart of the idea of a government of service which the Government wants to establish."

Of the complaints made about WWL, two were resolved through mediation, while 14 were resolved after a primary investigation.

Meanwhile, three required a detailed investigation.

Of the detailed investigations concluded last year – which includes investigations into complaints from previous years – one was partially upheld, one was fully upheld, and two were not upheld.

The remainder of the complaints were either not taken on by the ombudsman, or were still being looked into at the end of the year.

Dan Wellings, senior fellow at The King’s Fund, said: "The rise in the number of complaints being raised to the ombudsman is cause for concern as it means they have not been resolved locally."

He added it is a sign of a system that is "increasingly struggling to address people’s issues".

"Complaints should be an opportunity for the NHS to stop, reflect and improve based on what patients are telling them even when under huge pressure and creaking at the seams," he said.

An NHS spokesperson said: "Every patient deserves high-quality care, and NHS staff are working tirelessly to respond to the increasing demand for services, with a record number of patients coming forward in both primary care and hospitals in the past year.

They added the NHS is committed to listening to patients and rolling out initiatives like Martha’s Rule, which gives patients and their loved ones the right to request an urgent review of the person in treatment.

The spokesperson said there is "still more to be done", as the NHS works with the Government on its 10 Year Health Plan.