MORE than 8,000 complaints were received by Barnsley Hospital over a three-year period.

Latest figures show 3,202 were lodged in 2022/23, followed by 2,559 in 2023/24 and 2,299 in 2024/25.

The 8,060 total was discussed by directors last week who heard that 44 per cent related to attitude of medical staff.

A report said: “As a trust we welcome feedback from patients, their families and carers, and complaints and concerns are handled by our complaints team.

“The trust values complaints and wider patient feedback as a valuable opportunity to learn and make improvements to the services and care we provide.

“A customer-focused, responsive complaints service is important to the patients who use our services and we aim to be open and honest in our investigation process and committed to identifying actions and learning as a result of complaint investigations.

“At the time of receipt all formal complaints are risk graded based on the content of the complaint, and this grading is reviewed and confirmed following investigation.

All complaints are assessed whether or not 40-day or 60-day responses are justified.

“This 40 working day target is a challenge for the trust to achieve however we recognise the importance of responding to concerns and complaints raised in a timely manner whilst maintaining appropriate detail and high quality in our written responses,” the report added.

“During 2024/25 there were 106 actions identified from formal complaint investigations - 89 per cent of these have been actioned and closed. “The remaining 11 per cent, whilst still open, show 25 per cent are still

within the initial agreed timescales.”