Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Howarth of Breckland (Crossbench). It was answered on Thursday, 24 November 2005.

NHS Complaints: Healthcare Commission

Question: My Lords, I welcome the work of PALS and the work that the health service is doing in the community to listen to the community, rather than just looking at complaints. We know of one group of patients that does not make complaints; that is, children. What is the health service doing to ensure that the difficulties that children face are heard when they do not make complaints directly?

Answer: My Lords, the thing about PALS and other support services is that they enable the voice of children to be heard better. I would not want to claim that we have a perfect situation; we need to carry on working hard in that area. But we are seeing an NHS that is becoming much more responsive to addressing and redressing concerns when things go wrong, and learning from those experiences, and I believe that it will continue to develop in that area.

Secondary information