Compliments up and complaints down for West Midlands Ambulance Service

For the first half of the year (April – September 2015) the number of compliments were at a staggering 642, a 10% increase on last year.

For the same period, the Trust received 169 complaints, a decrease of 4.5% on the first half of 2014.

Director of Nursing and Quality, Mark Docherty, said: “These figures are tremendous news and show just how much the public appreciate the work staff do on a daily basis.

“Whilst celebrating the fantastic work of our staff, we must also recognise that even one complaint, is one too many.

“We will redouble our efforts to reduce complaints. We already look at each and every one and assess if there is learning that can be taken from the case and passed on to staff. This work appears to be having the desired effect.

“Given how challenging our work is, these figures show just how hard our staff in all areas of the organisation, work to ensure patients get the very best care possible. Congratulations to each and every one of them.”

Trust Chairman, Sir Graham Meldrum, added: “The increase in compliments is a superb reflection on the very high levels of care provided by the staff of the Trust to patients in their hour of need.

“When you consider each day we receive about 3,000 emergency calls and deal with thousands of non-emergency patient transport service patients, we should all be very proud of these figures.”