Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Anmeldelser 

The person I spoke to at the Ombudsman made a statement during our conversation, they then when reviewing my complaint attributed their comment to me. The company I was complaining about apologised to the Ombudsman service. I have never received an apology from the company the nearest I got to an apology was them implying I was a liar.

The response the Ombudsman gave to my complaint was as the company had admitted its errors, promised to do better in the future and apologized to them, the Ombudsman. I should be satisfied with a second hand apology.

My request of the Ombudsman service was a second Serious Investigation following my daughters death, as the company first investigation was totally inadequate as they didn't comply with the Serious Incident Framework in respect of the family involvement and the investigation itself. A fact admitted to the PHSO service.
Fortunately for me I didn't rely sollyy on the Ombudsman Service. I also took my complaint to another organisation who are now commissioning a second Serious Incident. Hopefully this investigation will comply with the Serious Incident Framework and will find out why my daughter died.

Very disappointed that I spent ages filling in the phso official form after my doctors failed to get me the treatment I needed quickly enough and this impacted my health and hearing. I went into great detail of how I was let down and what happened. I waited ages for a response then they got all the information wrong,clearly not even reading the official form I filled in. I responded and put in complaint but heard nothing. Waste of time and services if they ignore what's written no wonder surgery's are getting away with poor service.
I gave in and chased via phone ,and was told it has gone to her line manager,I get an email today where she gets my name wrong and said she misunderstood my complaint. Sorry but far from a professional service I had 7 emergency appointments dye to my Dr not referring me quick enough all details on my form, a specialist annoyed that I hadn't been referred sooner also in with my form, how can you misunderstand and say that I am still waiting for appointment? Far from impressed

Minus one star. (Below was what happened before.)
In December 2024 I tried again with another bad case because of the same surgery. This time, the initial case worker wouldn't pass it on again, and pretended he couldn't open a document which I sent. Yes, he could; it wasn't true, but in any case, I copied most of the document's content into the formal complaint. My goodness, they are no use to us.
***
One star is just for the polite initial case worker. However, she didn't send my formal complaint on for a proper review but just waited a week after her first call then closed the case. Issues were deliberately misunderstood and an "outcome" rewrote the history of my case. The surgery will be able to go on neglecting patients with the condition that affected me, and write prescriptions without checking the med's suit the patient. I showed the PHSO written comment from the Chief Superintendent Pharmacist - and they still argued! I asked for a review. Too quickly, back came a supposed review, only the same, just as neglectful. Insultingly, the money I was forced to find in order to get private care is thought to be negligible.

PHSO shambles is an illustion, an independent body to pretend there is regulation and holding public services to acount. However, gaving looked at the documentation zero percent of cases are ever upheld. ZERO.
Here is what you can do:

1. Request an Internal Review:
You can ask the PHSO to review their decision or the way your complaint was handled. This involves a senior member of their staff or an independent reviewer looking at your case.

2. Judicial Review:
If you believe the PHSO has acted unlawfully, irrationally, or failed to follow proper procedures, you can challenge their decision through a judicial review in court. This is a legal process, so you will likely need legal advice.

3. Contact Your MP:
Since the PHSO handles complaints referred by Members of Parliament (MPs), you can raise concerns about the PHSO’s conduct with your MP. Your MP may be able to escalate your concerns within the parliamentary system.

4. Contact the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC):
This parliamentary committee oversees the PHSO’s work. You can write to them to express concerns about systemic issues or the service provided by the PHSO. They do not handle individual complaints but may investigate patterns of concern.
5. Escalate to Relevant Advocacy Groups:
Organizations like the Ombudsman Association or advocacy groups for public services might provide advice or support if you feel the PHSO has not met professional standards.

We must be the change we wish to see in the world, and start holding these public services to account.

The Phso, have repeatedly refused to provide access to a visually impared disabled service users for over eight years, each time she has requested the phso, to record her recognised reasonable adjustments, provide updates, complaint references, complaint responses and comply with subject access requests reasonable adjustments every year from 2018.

The Phso, restrict her access and allege she has been vexatious during calls.

When they are then provided with copies of the calls and requested to specifically point out the alleged behaviour they are referring too.

Again as expected no response and continued denial of the abuse from their staff recorded during calls.
I would like to add, I have found Trust pilot, to be biased in favour of the ombudsman's and failure to post a factual record of all the negative reviews against them and I will be contacting your data protection dept again, due to "You" Trustpilot, failing to respond to gross misconduct and information requests over six years.

A waste of time.
It has taken two years to handle my complaint. The final response was full of inaccurate details and a complete white wash.

PHSO is not fit for purpose.
Went through the complaints process and after receiving a final response from them, contacted a senior manager. The final response completely ignored the evidence I had provided. The senior manager agreed that this was the case and apparently spoke to the person involved. Despite this the senior manager explained the decision was final ( despite being completely untrue ) . The process had ended and the only option available to me was legal action .
The whole point of this process is to avoid legal action .

I have to agree with all the other disillusioned contributors on here. There is very little to commend this organisation for, apart from whitewashing health negligence.
We, the people, voted for change.
Well, you will wait until hell freezes over for this lot to change. They don't listen and
don't want to know about genuine, reasoned complaints; they just want to prevaricate and frustrate, hoping you'll go away.
I suggest they look up the meaning of the word 'impartial' in the office dictionary!
What a flagrant waste of taxpayer's money.
Demoralising and encapsulates everything you need to know about Broken Britain.
If I could give no stars, that would be excessively generous.
Don't waste your time with these yes-men.

Everything went wrong this time. Having sent my complaints about London GIC by E-Mail to the PHSO as recommended, I rang them the following week on the 4/4/24 to check whether they had received it. They hadn't and it wasn't even on their system. The lady I spoke to was not very nice (even though the lady in a previous phone call was lovely) and kept on 'talking over me' even when I asked her twice to stop. Seeing that I was getting nowhere, I hung up on her as I was very annoyed. The reviews of the PHSO on Trustpilot are spot on. As a result of the shocking behaviour of this woman and seeing the reviews, I withdrew my complaints and solved my problem a different way. Unless they 'clean up their act', the PHSO is not fit for purpose. I can only conclude that my complaints about London GIC were not serious enough to warrant investigation, but I would never use the service again. I would advise people to avoid it completely.

AVOID AVOID unless you like wasting time. PHSO will do everything in their power to avoid helping you. Go to your local MP instead. As per the other reviews, my caseworker disappeared on holiday for 3 weeks with no prior notification or cover in place. I also call for this 'organisation' to be disbanded because how can we have faith in the NHS when the PHSO is useless??

This ombudsman is not fit for purpose and should be disbanded. I couldn't imagine working for such a useless organisation, what a pointless existence. My caseworker took two years to do absolutely nothing and then use COVID as an excuse. They could have done that in the first place instead of asking me to repeatedly send information I'd sent which caused me even more distress. What is absolutely clear throughout and even in their final letter was that they hadn't bothered reading what I'd sent. He couldn't even spell my (famous) MP's name correctly. Don't waste your time using them , it will just cause you further anguish and stress. There are nothing but horrendous reviews and why would there not be with an organisation that has such little regard for people's lives.

I tried to get the PHSO to look into a complaint I had against the ICO not doing its job properly. It's not just the NHS that the PHSO "handle" complaints about. I'd sent the ICO written evidence (the police's own emails and a police report) showing that police had committed a number of serious data breaches, sending my personal data and protected characteristics to a private company without my knowledge or permission - and evidence that the police then concealed the evidence of the data breach after I made a Subject Access Request. The ICO decided that there was no case to answer, primarily it seems because the police told them that there was no case to answer, aided by the ICO studiously ignoring the evidence that I'd sent to them. Eventually the police admitted to the above (and paid damages), and only after I sent the incompetents at the ICO the written admission from the police did the ICO respond to say the police had indeed committed a serious data breach - no sh*t Sherlock! - and then the ICO said that they weren't going to do anything further. It was at least consistent behaviour, with them having done nothing useful in the first place. The ICO is worse than useless in my experience - riddled with unaccountable incompetents, who can't even be bothered to read the clear evidence under their nose - what do these people do? The PHSO told me that they couldn't investigate the ICO because it was their policy that they wouldn't investigate an issue if it could be resolved by taking the ICO to court. Anyone can take any organisation to court - it doesn't necessarily mean anything - so what is the point of the PHSO being appointed as the authority who handles complaints about the ICO, but then says that they can't because you can take the ICO to court? The PHSO then tried to justify their position by quoting the ICO's original letter back to me verbatim in parts - the very thing I was complaining about that had not been done properly in the first place was being quoted back to me as a reason for why they would not look into it any further. The PHSO have been utterly useless - I used to think that the Vogons were a caricature of civil servant like these, but I now believe that reality is worse than fiction - the only difference is I suspect that Vogon poetry is better than that of those at the PHSO. The ICO and the PHSO are such a waste of money - the government needs to wake up and do something about it - it would be much better if the money wasted on the PHSO and ICO went to pay for something beneficial for the UK public. The feedback on Trustpilot seems fairly damning to me - and whilst I know people are usually more motivated to complain - 98% negative reviews is a difficult thing to argue against. I suppose those who can't make the grade for being proper civil servants need to find jobs somewhere - maybe we'd have more phone box sanitisers if the PHSO and ICO didn't exist - or maybe the lack of phone boxes accounts for the existence of the ICO and PHSO in the first place. By all means try to ask the PHSO to look into a complaint - but in my experience - and it seems in the experience of 98% of people who have reviewed them - they seem to be more interested in protecting the very organisations that they are supposed to be looking into.

I was told after initial contact and complaint
Letter that only the most serious cases were taken on so mine was being passed to a Senior Caseworker. ( No complaint about
My caseworker, polite and seemingly sympathetic.) My Brother had died only hours after a fall. My case after a long drawn out wait was in no part upheld I didn’t think to check on the reviews of The PHSO - it being an official body - But after my experience I have to agree with all the negative reviews
As someone stated they appear to be a buffer against the complainant and the NHS
They know people can’t afford Solicitors fees and after they make their final decision No Win No Pay Solicitors are usually reluctant to take these cases on. They’re know as Low Value cases !!Hence you’re left upset and frustrated after all the correspondence explaining again and again to the PHSO exactly what your complaint is. I agree the millions spent on this service are a total waste.

I'm agog this dept has received any rating above 1star.
Bias, corrupt, apathetic, flawed, dept has no soul or empathy. Really think this department is the evil twin sister of the CMS..how do the staff sleep at night.

Can't even be bothered do anything, doesn't want take the case even though I'm not getting a response and iv had go through the same thing over and over for last 3 years. The government want save money this should be closed down as not fit for purpose. If you think people like this work for the government and supposed be impartial think again. No wonder schools failing and they can't control borders or run hospitals they to busy sitting on there back sides. Will be sending mps emails with a copy of this link as proof of poor these are and not fit for purpose and a waste of funding. The are only there to covers the government's back and shut down complaints from starting so it doesn't make them look bad.

Spent last 4 yrs collecting evidence to support my complaint. The PHSO advised me to continue writing to the organisation then after I'd done all that say they won't investigate. My Mum fell whilst in a care home. They lied about the cause and she severely fractured her lower leg but was left for 5 agonising weeks without any treatment but codeine. This caused her health to deteriorate and she suffered for 4mths before she died. I say died because she was given midazolam without any health assessment. An inquest typically found she died from frailty of old age with her fracture being a contributing factor. The care home owner could afford to pay for an investigation by his professional adviser which was biased towards the care home. Cos of this the joint working team won't investigate. Their report completely altered the reason for my complaint and they lied about what had really happened. It caused me considerable distress. I wish I had never complained to them because of the mental trauma it has caused me. They are despicable and take pride in the fact that they can find reasons for not investigating your complaint.

If i could give no stars i would of!
This is the biggest most corrupt group of people i've ever come across! They cover the NHS's arses and cover up the truth!
My poor dad waited over 6 hours for an ambulance and further waited almost 3 hours when in a&e, sadly died the following morning due to sepsis. They have ruled that the ambulance have done everything they could! I argued and was just ignored and fed back so much crap! Do not bother wasting your time! it took them over a year to give me a bogus reply. Thanks for wasting mine and my family's time of grief and making us relive the day our dad died over and over again! These people are not humans and have no emotion or sympathy sadly they just want to hurry on your case and cover up the truth. I don't care what anyone says if my dad was seen on time he would not of passed away. I really hope no one else has to go through the pain we have and led us down the garden path to then rip it from beneath us.

I was sent to my local A&E by my GP with a numb foot, suspecting serious spinal nerve damage. Following MRI, damage was identified by duty doctor - a senior decision make over-ruled the duty doctor, declaring that nothing was wrong with my spine, sending me back home after 48 hours in A&E back into the care of my GP. Month later, with problems walking, went to another hospital, after initial problems, had nerve decompression surgery & am now, virtually housebound & disabled & possibly facing further surgery. Did the ombudsman rule in my favour ? - NO . In my firm opinion, this organisation should be scrapped & replaced by a new, fully independent ombudsman service, with accountability.
It is not fit for purpose.

Please DONT EXPECT ANYTHIG AT ALL FROM THIS SERVICE
As other people said , their service will try to find any exuses to reject your case...
Its big corruption within the NHS , one day everything would be revealed...
* 43 billions Pounds spent for an APP Test and trace
* 410 billions pounds spent during the corona mainly paid to family and freind companies
When It comes to compensate people for the negligence and the trauma they suffered withing the NHS, the Ombudsman then will try anything to not consider your case...Its corruption more than anything elese

Disgusting waste of tax payer money. Completely useless, rude, and pointless organisation that need closing down.
I submitted a complaint against a government department with clear evidence of wrong doing. The PHSO won’t investigate and have me two separate excuses, neither of which made sense or related to my complaint against the government department and a scheme they run. They rudely told me my MP contacting them wouldn’t matter because they don’t answer to MPs. The problem is they’re another useless tax payer funded organisation that answers to and is accountable to no one! So they do what the hell they want and treat ordinary decent members of the public that are looking for help with absolute contempt while covering up wrong doing.

No wonder there is a mental health crisis in this country and scandals like the post office, infected blood, grenfell etc all escalated out of control.

Unless you have money in this country you are nothing and there is no one to help.