COMPLAINTS ABOUT HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICES

That this House welcomes the establishment of the Care Quality Commission in April 2009; and requests that the Commission must enforce the principle that healthcare and social care providers are obliged to act upon comments and complaints about their services, must ensure complaints procedures are open, efficient, timely and accessible with independent support for complainants throughout all stages of the complaint, must ensure that areas of concern arising from complaints are fully acted upon and the procedures amended or introduced as a result of complaints are implemented, and in the event of failure by a care provider to meet these obligations, sanctions must be imposed by the Commission on that provider.