Hospital complaints in Lincolnshire fall after phone call scheme

The introduction of daily telephone calls from hospital wards to relatives has led to a drop in complaints, hospital managers have said.

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) claims it is the "first in the country" to introduce regular calls to a designated patient contact.

The trust, which started the calls as a pilot scheme two years ago, has now rolled the project out to 45 of 52 wards in Lincoln, Grantham and Boston.

The scheme has been nominated for recognition at The Patient Experience Network National Awards.

The trust told the BBC the scheme had been developed to provide regular updates and preserve staff time.

Patient experience manager, Jane Thompson-Burt, said: "Sometimes you get multiple members of the family phoning into the wards and you're trying to pass on information so staff are being taken away from their clinical role."

Since the introduction of the scheme, ULHT said the number of "avoidable complaints" regarding communication had reduced from 134 in the 2022/23 financial year to 51 in 2023/24.

Angela Mason, matron for Trauma and Orthopaedics, said a lack of communication was "one of the biggest areas of complaint from both patients and relatives".

"It's not just nurses making the calls," she said. "It can be doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, our ward clerks and volunteers as well."

Healthwatch Lincolnshire, which campaigns for patients in the county, said it was "pleased to hear about the positive impact" of the scheme.

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