Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Wednesday, 6 March 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 3 April 2002. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Wednesday, 3 April 2002 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made about the cost to (a) individual NHS trusts and (b) his Department of requiring trusts to compile data about the ethnicity of patients making complaints; and how many staff are involved; what proportion of patients requested to give details about their ethnicity subsequent to making a complaint about treatment by an NHS trust have returned their survey form having ticked the decline to state box; which NHS trusts have been instructed to compile data about the ethnicity of patients making complaints; if he proposes to publish the findings of his Department's instructions to NHS trusts to compile data regarding the ethnicity of patients making complaints; what the purpose is of the instructions from his Department to NHS trusts requiring complaint departments to compile data about the ethnicity of persons making a complaint since April 2001; how he proposes to use the data collected from NHS trusts regarding the ethnicity of patients making complaints. - (Holding answers issued on Monday 11 March).

Secondary information