Complaints from patients at Shropshire’s two main hospitals have grown over the past four years, new figures show.

But at the same time, the number of people being treated at the Royal Shrewsbury and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospitals has also risen. A report to the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust board tomorrow reveals that 537 complaints were received during 2008/09.

The highest number – 163 – came during the fourth quarter of the year, from January to the end of March.

Many of these complaints were linked to winter bed pressures such as postponed operations and the waiting time for treatment in the A&E departments.

The report also says that there was an increase in the number of serious complaints – 29 – such as those relating to poor medical and nursing care, and cancer diagnoses.

In 2005/06, there were a total of 431 complaints, rising to 450 the following year, and 464 during 2007/08.

The number of patient “episodes” across both hospitals totalled 470,587 in 2005/06, increasing to 489,818 last year.

The report says that it is recognised that complaints provide a valuable source of information about the trust’s services and a number of improvements were made during the last six months of the year.

These included appointing additional staff to the orthopaedic Ward 28 at the Royal Shrewsbury, arranging more cardiology outpatient clinics and customer care training for all oncology administration and clerical staff.

During last year the trust received more than 5,000 letters of appreciation and gifts or donations.

These figures can be broken down to 1,363 thank you letters and 2,012 gifts/donations at the Royal Shrewsbury and 744 thank you letters and 911 gifts/donations at the Princess Royal.

The report also reveals a high satisfaction scores in the latest ward exit survey, covering such issues as hygiene and cleanliness, privacy and dignity, noise and disturbance, and nutrition.

By Dave Morris