Applause for the NHS during the pandemic may have been ‘dangerous’, as ‘no organisation can be a national religion’, the health service ombudsman has warned.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, stressed that ‘no organisation should be beyond constructive criticism’, drawing upon the thousands of complaints received by the NHS since 2020.
Her thoughts come amidst Professor Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS, with its results set to be published in September.
A worrying 27,479 complaints about the NHS in England were made to the ombudsman in 2023/24, with two in three at least partly upheld, according to The Telegraph. Ms Hilsenrath has also submitted evidence to this investigation.
“I think it does speak to a change in attitude towards the NHS and a far lower degree of happiness with services,” she said in an interview with the publication, commenting on the rise in complaints from 18,727 received in 2020/21.
“Of course, people were enormously grateful for the extraordinary efforts that people in NHS went to during that time, including risking their own personal safety.
“I also know that the national mood has changed since then, and I think it’s incredibly difficult as an NHS worker to consistently read about the failings in your service, and how you’re letting people down.”
The health service ombudsman then continued: “There is an argument I have heard that clapping for the NHS during the pandemic was quite a dangerous thing to do … because no organisation can be a national religion, and no organisation should be beyond constructive criticism.
“I don’t think that it is helpful for any organisation to be treated as religion.”
Ms Hilsenrath said there was ‘a lack of consistency’ in the NHS, adding that ‘the ultimate price for failure is tragedy’. She said: “An NHS that isn’t listening isn’t learning, and that’s what takes you into repeat behaviours, and that’s the single critical thing that we see. And I’m afraid we see it over and over again.
“When big things go wrong and terrible things happen you get the NHS saying ‘never again’, but actually it’s just not true.
“Being patient-centric lies at the heart of that, because until the NHS listens more with people when things go wrong and before they go wrong, of course, those mistakes will continue to be made.”
She also highlighted the urgent need for reform in the regulatory landscape, mentioning a ‘vast amount of duplication’.
“It’s very difficult for regulators in health to speak with a clear and united voice, because there’s just so many of them, and they all have slightly different but overlapping roles,” she added.
“The organisations in question, the NHS, tend to get faced by multiple recommendations which all come from different people, and … of course, it’s a grossly inefficient way to run anything.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is broken but we are determined to get it back on its feet so it can be there for all of us when we need it.
“We will be honest about the challenges facing the health service and will work to tackle them.
“The independent investigation into the NHS by Lord Darzi is a step towards identifying and solving these problems as we create an NHS fit for the future.”