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The increase (28.8 per cent) in the number of complaints from pre‐New NHS Complaints Procedure to the implementation of the new procedures in 1996 is a matter of concern because it is estimated that the current figure represents only 40 per cent of the number of people with some dissatisfaction. The Wilson Report prompted Government initiatives in producing a new NHS Complaints Procedure. The new procedure allows for complaints to be dealt with at a local level, or in a minority of cases through Independent Review. The new procedures, which were introduced in April 1996, oblige Trusts, GP practices and Health Boards to establish a Written Local Resolution process for handling complaints, responsibility for implementation lying with individual trusts. A preliminary assessment of the New Procedures was carried out in Lothian. A qualitative approach was utilised and semi‐structured taped interviews lasting on average one hour ten minutes were administered to the six complaints officers. This study concentrates on how the six Lothian NHS Trusts are implementing the new procedure, the openness in complaints handling, and the awareness of how complaints can be used to improve standards. The conclusion is that Local Resolution 1 has been successful, and that complaints do receive a speedy response. The process is much simpler and easier for the lay population to access. Reservations remain, however, towards the Independent Review procedure.

Citizen review of complaints against police officers is an important new aspect of policing which takes many different forms. Explains the reasons leading to the usage of this term in preference to similar terms. Analyzes official documents related to the 65 citizen review (CR) procedures currently in force in the USA. Highlights the problematic relationship between the goals of CR and administrative features. Finds that existing procedures do not always guarantee an independent review of complaints. Suggests additional research on procedures, more critical assessment of the assumptions underlying CR, and rigorous comparative evaluations of complaint review systems, also of the relationship between CR and other innovations such as community policing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the operation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland's (ICAI) complaint process from the complainant's perspective. The findings are interpreted drawing on key elements of Parker's private interest model of professional accounting ethics, particularly the private interest roles of professional authority and professional insulation.

The primary evidence used is drawn from numerous sources. These include: extensive “private” documentation comprising original correspondence between the complainant in the case examined (or his advisors) and various representatives of the ICAI spanning a five‐year period; detailed supporting documentation included with this correspondence; Independent Experts' Reports on the complaints submitted; and in‐depth interviews with the complainant prior to, during, and post the examination of the documentary evidence.

The paper reveals how high levels of professional authority and professional insulation worked in tandem to prevent complaints entering the complaint process and deny the complainant reasons for decisions taken. It demonstrates how a key structural barrier in the complaint process, the screening role of the professional accounting body's secretary, created a complainant impression of a process concerned primarily with protecting members' interests. Subsequent to complaint process changes, an erosion of professional insulation is unveiled. However, this proves fleeting and, in response to persistent complainant challenges to heightened demonstrations of professional authority, the degree of professional insulation intensifies further.

The paper focuses on a specific case where the complainant was dissatisfied with the ICAI's procedures. It reveals the extent to which complainants using professional body complaints procedures may, often by virtue of the structures in place, feel that profession protection motives are overriding purported concerns for society protection.

The paper extends and advances the literature examining professional accounting body disciplinary and complaint procedures. Prior research investigating the operation of these procedures has neglected to examine complaint processes in depth to inform their evaluations, particularly from the perspective of potential users of these processes.

Recently, the British Standards Institution (BSI) issued a new standard: BS 8600:1999 Complaints Management Systems – Guide to Design and Implementation. This standard tends to focus on those systems and procedures that organisations put into motion after a complaint has been received. However, for many customers, particularly of large organisations such as local government services, the problems begin with knowing how to gain access to the complaints system. In the public sector this visibility usually takes the form of some kind of information leaflet which should detail certain basic information that will allow customers to access the complaints system. This paper develops a framework for an effective customer complaints information leaflet and then evaluates Scottish councils’ corporate complaints information brochures against this framework to determine whether or not they meet its acceptance criteria for effectiveness. Each leaflet was evaluated against 12 points of good practice developed from both Central Government’s guidelines and the new British Standard guidelines. The results showed that although a majority of them met many of the framework criteria, a significant proportion fell well short of what would be deemed acceptable.

This article considers the role played by complaints procedures within social services and the NHS and current government proposals for reform. It looks at the impact on complaints procedures of recent legal developments, in particular the implementation of the Human Rights Act and the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution, and recent cases.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an analysis of official data on police misconduct, providing new insights into the nature and extent of police misconduct and in the official response to police misconduct. Next to the use of force and neglect of duty, private time misconduct is a major type of (alleged) misconduct although it is often discarded from theoretical conceptions of police misconduct. The analysis also showed that two‐thirds of internal investigations are the result of an internal report. This paper shows that official data on police misconduct can result in new insights in the nature and extent of police misconduct and is therefore a relevant source for academic analysis.

An analysis of official data on police misconduct is compared with theoretical notions of police misconduct, internal investigations and reliability of official data.

The implementation of a uniform Registration of Internal Investigations for all Dutch police forces has resulted in a clear increase in the number of registered investigations. This seems to be due to a combination of increased strictness on (alleged) misconduct and an improved quality of the registration. The analysis also showed that two‐thirds of the investigations are the result of an internal report. This places a new perspective on the so‐called code of silence among police officers. However, information on the extent and nature of complaints that are dealt with through the complaints procedure is lacking. The complaints procedure has also no formal relation with the disciplinary or criminal procedures.

Official data on police misconduct have to be viewed with a critical eye. The analyses showed however that the Dutch data seem fairly reliable. Additional research should place the official data in further perspective, e.g. through case studies and through a control of the registration with the files of the Bureaux of Internal Investigations. Finally, a comparison with official data in other countries is needed.

The Dutch police should improve its complaints procedures and the complaints registration.

Academic analysis of police misconduct is often limited to case studies of scandals or focuses on citizen complaints. The paper gives a broader perspective by using official data.

The Department of Health plans to reform the NHS and social care complaints arrangements from April 2009. This article looks at the proposals and considers some of the key issues.

The patient complaint is one of the main procedures of exercising patient’s rights in the Finnish health care system. Such complaints typically concern the quality of care and/or patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to examine the types of patient complaints received by a specialized medical care organization and the kinds of responses given by the organization’s personnel. The organization’s strategy and good governance principles provide the framework for understanding the organization’s action.

This study’s data comprise patient complaints and the responses from personnel of a specialized medical care organization from the start of 2012 to the end of January 2014. The data were analyzed through qualitative data analysis.

The results show many unwanted grievances, but also reveal the procedures employed to improve health care processes. The results are related to patients’ care experiences, provision of information, personnel’s professional skills and the approach to patient complaints handling. The integrative result of the analysis was to find consensus between the patients’ expectations and personnel’s evaluation of patients’ needs.

Few prior studies have examined patient complaints related to both strategy and good governance. Patient complaints were found to have several confluences with an organization’s strategic goals, objectives and good governance principles. The study recommends further research on personnel procedures for patient complaints handling, with a view to influencing strategic planning and implementation of strategies of organizations.

The impetus for this paper was the Channel 5 documentary Who Cares for Gary? and the combined efforts of the author, her family and friends to challenge practice within one of the units featured. The paper describes a fundamentally disruptive sequence of decisions and events in the life of the author's brother and affirms that the consequences of abuse and mechanisms to challenge it go beyond individual suffering.