Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 9 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 November 2004. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Thursday, 18 November 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the recognised complaints procedure is for NHS patients treated by private treatment centres; whether his Department has received complaints about the standard of treatment provided to NHS patients by Netcare treatment centres.

Answer: Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the recognised complaints procedure is for NHS patients treated by private treatment centres; [197954] (2) whether his Department has received complaints about the standard of treatment provided to NHS patients by Netcare treatment centres. [197957] Mr. Hutton: The responsibility for handling complaints rests with the appropriate national health service primary care trust or acute trust that referred the patients to the independent treatment centre. Such complaints are handled through the NHS complaints process. The Department is not involved in the resolution of such complaints. Under contract terms, the Department is required to be notified by an independent treatment centre of any complaints in relation to treatment they provide to NHS patients. To date, the Department has been notified of seven such cases.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 426 c1954W;426 c1959W; 197954;197957
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Complaints NHS Medical treatments Patients Treatment centres Netcare Healthcare UK
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk