[Margaret Pilkington]

Neil, you may not think that complaints are listened to, but after working for almost 30 years in the NHS, I know that they are fully investigated. I have been retired for almost 6 years now, but I recall the complaints Dept at what is now the RBH to be very robust.
I, and my staff, were called into question whenever a complaint was received. All those who were involved in the care of the patient were required to complete statements.....that patient or their relative was kept informed of the progress of the complaint(and we were required to deal with the complaint within a certain time scale).....Once the statements were completed, the patient or their representative were invited to attend a meeting to outline what had happened and what would be done to ensure a similar scenario didn't occur again.

I know i did everything in my power to make sure that we didn't get complaints.....and we had a notice board on our ward where all complaints and their outcomes was recorded.