BackIn his Annual Report, published today and laid before the National Assembly for Wales on 19 June 2013, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall, reveals that once again there has been an increase in the volume of casework at his office. The number of complaints about public service providers has continued to rise, up 12% on 2011/12. The greatest increase has again been in relation to health bodies, up 30% on the previous year. Enquiries to the office also rose again (by 56%). Significantly, the total number of contacts with the office, that is, enquiries, complaints about public bodies and code of conduct complaints has risen 100% from the position at 2009/10.
The overall theme of this year’s report is ‘Putting Things Right: Driving Improvement”, recognising the work of the office in putting things right for users of public services when the Ombudsman finds things have gone wrong, and then to drive improvement in the delivery of those public services using the learning from the complaints considered.
Peter Tyndall also draws attention in his report to the increasingly complex way in which public services are delivered.
Mr Tyndall said: “In a public service landscape where the distinction in delivery between public and private sectors becomes increasingly blurred, it is important that people’s access to redress is not inadvertently denied to them. I have spoken publicly on this in recent years and believe it is a matter which requires further attention in respect of the position in Wales. I look forward to further discussions with the National Assembly for Wales and Welsh Government on these considerations in the forthcoming year.”
The full report is available on the Ombudsman’s website and on the IOI website.
Source: Office of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
