The government’s response to the Francis inquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire, Hard Truths, called for a number of changes and actions to be taken. One of these was to develop a user-led vision of what good complaint handling should look like in health and social care. In other words, what are the expectations of patients and care users if their experience of complaining was to be classed as ‘good’.

The work, led by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) alongside the Local Government Ombudsman and Healthwatch England, is important because it places patients and care users at the heart of the vision.

I am pleased that the report, My Expectations for raising concerns and complaints, is launched today (20 November) – providing for the first time a vision for good complaint handling developed by, and presented in the language of, people who have complained.