Complaints about doctors' professional conduct reach record levels

Complaints about the professional conduct of doctors rose by 23% last year to reach record levels, according to figures published on Tuesday.

The General Medical Council, which compiled the data, said the number of complaints rose from 7,153 in 2010, to 8,781 in 2011. The increase continues a steady rise since 2007, and data for the first half of 2012 shows there is no sign of the volume of complaints slowing down, with a further 27% increase registered.

The figures mean one in 64 doctors faced the possibility of being investigated by the regulator after complaints last year.

The GMC said it was taking the rise in complaints seriously and working to find out why they were increasing and to deal more effectively with them.

"We have a degree of humility about this. We have been trying to understand why these numbers are going up," said Niall Dickson, GMC chief executive.

But he added: "More complaints does not necessarily mean worse care."

He said patients and their relatives had increasingly high expectations of what medicine could achieve and were more vocal when disappointed or when things go wrong than in the past. They were also more likely to sue their hospital or primary care trust.

Publication of the findings came just a day after a British Social Attitudes survey showed public satisfaction with the NHS had slumped for the first time, last year, from 70% to 58% – although the slide was thought to relate to concern about reforms to the health service rather than individual doctors' performance.

Most of the complaints last year – 5,665 – came from members of the public. The rest were made by other doctors, other healthcare staff, and other people in authority such as police officers, coroners and medical directors.

Only a fraction of complaints eventually result in some form of disciplinary action. "We are probably doing something with around 1,200 doctors," said Dickson. "Of those, around 700 will get advice. The remaining 500 get a range of sanctions."

The most serious action – where a doctor is struck off the medical register and is no longer able to practise – was taken against 65 doctors last year, compared with 73 in 2010. Since the number of hearings went down, this was a rise in the proportion of cases investigated that resulted in doctors being struck off.

According to the GMC report, The state of medical education and practice in the UK 2012, doctors were struck off last year in cases that included substandard treatment, financial deception, false and misleading reporting, incomplete medical records and failure to co-operate with an investigation and fraud.

Last year, 93 doctors were suspended from practising – down from 106 in 2010 but again a rise in proportion to the number of cases heard.

More than half of all complaints – 4,914, or 56% – went no further because they did not raise issues about a doctor's fitness to practise. About a quarter – 2,330 – were the subject of a full investigation.

There was a noticeable rise in complaints about communication from doctors to patients, up by 69%, and about lack of respect, up 45%.

Most complaints – 73% – are about male doctors, the figures show, even though only 57% of registered doctors are male.

The report also shows that the number of women doctors continues to rise, passing the 100,000 mark for the first time in the history of the profession.

Trends show the majority of all doctors after 2017 in the UK will be women.

Nearly half of all complaints (47%) are about GPs, which the GPs say is not surprising because they are a quarter of all doctors and have more frequent and personal interaction with patients than hospital doctors.

Surgeons and psychiatrists also get proportionately more complaints than other doctors (8% and 11% respectively).

Older doctors also attract more complaints than their younger colleagues. The GMC said there is no evidence that ethnicity plays a role in the likelihood of a complaint.

From the end of this year the GMC plans to introduce the five-yearly revalidation of doctors, who will have to show through annual appraisals, testimonials, patient surveys and other evidence that they continue to be on top of the job.

Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "The GMC is rightly taking steps to better understand and deal with an increase in complaints, but it is important to reassure people that this does not mean that medical standards are falling and complaints to the GMC are not always directly related quality of front line patient care."