WRITTEN complaints against the NHS in the North- East have increased at twice the rate of the rest of the country in the past financial year.

Figures released by the NHS Information Centre showed that the overall number of complaints against the NHS in the North-East went up from 3,377 to 4,290 – an increase of 27 per cent.

Nationally, the NHS in England saw a 13.4 per cent rise, the biggest year-on-year rise since annual data was first published 12 years ago.

Between 2008/9 and 2009/10 the number of complaints in England rose from 89,139 to 101,077.

Previously, the biggest annual increase – 10.6 per cent – was between 1999 and 2000.

Complaints in Yorkshire and the Humber increased by 13.8 per cent from 8,013 in 2008 to 9,120.

While the North-East enjoyed the lowest number of complaints against the NHS in England some individual health organisations in the region attracted relatively large numbers of complaints.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service topped the region’s complaints league table with 742 compared with 280 in the previous year.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust recorded 587 written complaints last year compared with 524 in the previous year.

Darlington PCT recorded 130 complaints, far more than most other North-East primary care trusts.

North Yorkshire recorded the highest number of complaints about GPs and dentists – 868 compared to 718 the previous year.

Complaints about GPs and dentists in County Durham reached 510 compared to 375 in the previous year..

Marion Dilley, associate director of nursing for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: “We always aim to deliver high quality services but we recognise that at times things may not go according to plan and it is important for us to know when this happens so that we can learn from it.”

Karen Cooper, patient services manager with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) said their figures showed that the YAS has actually seen a significant decrease in the number of formal complaints in 2009-10, compared with the previous year.

Jayne Brown, chief executive of NHS North Yorkshire and York, said: “The figures released by the NHS Information Centre relate to complaints that practices have resolved without our involvement.

“Complaints are an excellent way to gain valuable feedback about services and they help us and practices to improve.

Our GPs are highly regarded by patients. Results from the most recent GP Patient Survey shows that 95 per cent of patients are satisfied with care received at their surgery, and 91 per cent would recommend their GP surgery to someone who has moved to the area.”