Collection of information on complaints to GP practices will resume in August to capture data from 2020/21, NHS England has confirmed.
A bulletin from NHS England director of primary care Dr Nikki Kanani, said the collection of data through the KO14b form that had been suspended in the pandemic would restart on the 9 August.
But in response to feedback through the GP bureaucracy review and a consultation run by NHS Digital there have been several simplifications made to the collection and return process, the bulletin said.
It includes an extension to the usual collection window from six weeks to 12 weeks. The data collection is mandatory and practices are asked to submit their returns by 30th October.
NHS Digital also said improvements had been made to the portal to address technical issues that previously occurred and to make the experience of uploading the return easier.
The pause in data collection to free practices up to deal with the pandemic meant there was no publication of complaints for 2019/20.
‘Recording, managing and resolving written complaints is an important part of modern service delivery and provides vital feedback for ongoing service improvement,’ the NHS England bulletin said.
This story first appeared on our sister title, Pulse.
