Poor practice can be used to improve care, but too often the way concerns are handled lacks sensitivity and rigour. Jenny Treanor offers guidance for senior nurses

Complaints can give hospital managers valuable insight into patients’ experiences of care delivery, insight that regular service audits may miss. Viewed positively, complaints offer managers an opportunity to develop and improve services. This article shares the findings from a Patients Association survey of complainants across ten pilot trusts from July 2011 to July 2013. The results describe what it feels like to make a complaint and highlight considerable variation in performance by the organisations involved. Overall complainant satisfaction was found to be low, and approaches that senior nurses can take in response are suggested.