MORE than 5,600 written complaints were made against the NHS in the North-East and Cumbria during 2013-14, according to new figures.

It means that the NHS in the North-East and Cumbria was receiving more than 15 a day.

New statistics, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), show that the number of written complaints made to the NHS as a whole reached 174,900 in 2013-14.

Although it is not possible to directly compare this figure with the previous year because of changes to the NHS the new figures show that complaints made against NHS hospitals and community health services in England increased from 109,000 in 2012-13 to 114,300 last year – a 4.6 per cent rise.

The number of complaints made to the NHS in County Durham, Darlington and Teesside totalled 1,438 during 2013-14, which works out as 3.9 a day.

By far the biggest group of professionals complained about in this area were doctors and surgeons, accounting for 758 complaints or 54.6 per cent of all complaints. This was a larger proportion than in England where doctors and surgeons accounted for 45.6 per cent of complaints.

The next biggest group to be complained about were nurses, midwives and health visitors. These groups were on the receiving end of 451 complaints during 2013-14, or 31.4 per cent of all complaints (a larger share than the national equivalent of 21.7 per cent).

Because of the larger population served the number of complaints against the NHS in the Tyne, Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria area totalled 4,261, which works out as 11 complaints a day.

In this area there were 2,055 complaints against doctors and surgeons and 1,068 against nurses, midwives and health visitors.