More than three quarters of complaints against Manx Care were at least partly upheld in the last year.

But the better news for the organisation is that the number of complaints have fallen for the second year in a row.

Manx Care’s ‘complaints and duty of candour’ annual report will go before Tynwald during its next sitting.

The report shows that 51% of complaints to Manx Care were partially upheld with 26% full upheld. Just 23% were jot upheld at all.

The report also shows most complaints were dealt with swiftly with 93% offered a meeting.

The most complaints received related to medicine and urgent care with 82 in total which is a drop from 116 last year.

Surgery and theatre received 57 complaints but that is a sharp fall from the 108 received the previous year.

There were 35 related to social care which is a rise on the previous year’s total of 25 while there was also a rise in complaints regarding care within women and children services from 19 last year to 26 this year.

Most of the complaints made in each area related to clinical treatment with 62 in total while 31 were in relation to delays and diagnosis and 46 regarding access to treatment or drugs.

The report says: ‘The number of complaints received by Manx Care has continued to fall for the second consecutive year.

During 2023/24, the total number received was 263, which was 24% less than the previous year (346). This positive shift correlates with the increase in Manx Care Advice Liaison Service (MCALS) contacts.

‘Of all the complaints received by Manx Care, 94% were investigated in full, 4% were withdrawn by the complainant, and a further 2% could not be processed due to lack of consent (third-party complaints). There are 48 complaints presently under investigation.

‘Of the 200 complaints completed at the time of reporting, the majority (51%) were partially upheld, and 26% were upheld in full. Manx Care services were found not to be at fault for the remaining 23%.’

Meanwhile, the Health and Social Care Ombudsman Body (HSCOB), set up last year, received 40 complaints but some relate to complaints going back as far as 2021.

Primary Care Services received 156 complaints (40 of which were not processed due to complaint being withdrawn or no consent provided), which was a 53% increase on last year’s statistics. Once again, the two areas attracting the most complaints were GPs and dental services.

But 52% of the complaints were not upheld with a quarter partially upheld and a quarter fully upheld. Five complaints were referred to the HSCOB but none have been upheld to date with one still being considered.