A qualitative study of National Health Service (NHS) complaint-responses

Table 2 Nature of complaint and complaint-response/outcome

Nature of complaint	Upheld			Partly Upheld			Not Upheld			Complaint Response with Decision (DS or NS)	Unable to ascertain possible complaint-response from letter content and, or DS letters	All Complaints
Nature of complaint	DS	NS	total	DS	NS	total	DS	NS	total	Complaint Response with Decision (DS or NS)		All Complaints
Single	7	5	12	1	X	1	1	2	3	16	2	18
Complex	9	2	11	2	X	2	8	14	22	35	6	41
TOTAL	16	7	23	3	X	3	9	16	25	51	8	59^a

DS = decision-specified in the complaint-response
NS = decision not specified in the complaint-response, but a decision outcome probable from reply content
^a excluding 1 complaint letter returned to the sender with an apology but refusing to action the complaint (n = 60 in total)

ISSN: 1472-6963