Complaints at five-year high

Complaints at five-year high

13 August 2025

COMPLAINTS against the province’s five health trusts have peaked at a five year high, new figures have revealed.

The Department of Health has confirmed that the total number of complaints against the health trusts and ambulance service — also classed as a trust — was 8,805 in 2024/25. 

The figure marks a five-year high and represents a rise of 76% since 2020/21 as well as a 5% increase on the previous year.

Complaints against the South Eastern Trust — which is responsible for the Downe Hospital in Downpatrick — were 2,178 in the last financial year.

Elsewhere, the number of complaints against the Belfast, Western and Southern health trusts were 2,406, 1,634 and 1,180 respectively. The number of complaints against the Northern trust was 1,092.

The Department of Health says that in 2024/25, the trusts received 5,483 complaints, from which a total of 8,805 complaint issues arose.

Over half of these issues related to acute services (4,718), followed by family and child care (889) and maternal and child health (796).

The highest number of complaint issues (2,217) related to a patient’s ‘quality of treatment and care’, with communication (1,922) and staff attitude or behaviour (1,300) the next largest areas.

However, for the same period, the trusts received over four times the number of complaints (42,312) than they had in complaint issues.

Almost half of the complaints related to the quality of treatment and care and a quarter pertained to staff attitude and behaviour.

A Department of Health spokesperson said the severe pressures on the health and social care system in Northern Ireland are well documented, with significant budget shortfalls and unacceptable waiting times for patients.

“It is accepted that public experiences of care too often fall short of the level everyone in the system wants to provide,” the spokesperson added.