Complaints to Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Trusts have soared by 75% over a five-year period, according to new figures released by the Department of Health.
The number of formal grievances rose from 5,005 in 2020/21 to 8,805 in 2024/25, highlighting growing public dissatisfaction with health services.
The report confirms that all six health trusts across Northern Ireland experienced a rise in complaints, with the Belfast Trust receiving the highest number at 2,406 cases. The South Eastern Trust followed with 2,178, while the Western Trust recorded 1,634 complaints. The Southern Trust received 1,180 grievances, and the Northern Trust reported 1,092. The NI Air Ambulance also saw 315 complaints during the same period.
Accident and emergency services generated the highest percentage of issues in 2024/25, making up 14.1% of all complaints. In total, 1,243 cases were linked to A&E, while 745 were related to general medicine and 550 to children and young people’s services.
The report also highlights a significant increase in complaints about acute care services, which rose from 2,695 in 2020/21 to 4,718 in 2024/25. These accounted for over half of all complaints recorded last year. In Belfast Trust alone, acute care made up one in every seven complaints.
Family Practitioner Services also saw a rise in complaints, growing from 173 in 2020/21 to 272 in 2024/25.
The median age of complainants was 46, with 59% of complaints submitted by females and 41% by males. Health trusts managed to provide a substantive response to 2,455 complaints, or just over two-fifths, within 20 working days.
Despite the sharp increase in complaints, the health service received 42,312 compliments over the same 12-month period. Nearly half (49%) of these were related to the quality of treatment and care. Around a quarter praised staff attitude and behaviour, 11% highlighted good communication and information, 3% related to the healthcare environment, and almost 12% fell under other categories.
The publication of these figures comes shortly after the appointment of Jennifer Welsh as the new chief executive of the Belfast Trust. This followed the removal of its former chairman amid a series of scandals that led to increased scrutiny of the trust’s leadership.
Health continues to be a major focus in Stormont’s Programme for Government. Northern Ireland is currently facing the longest hospital waiting times in the UK, with rising demand and the impact of the pandemic adding significant pressure to the Health and Social Care system and creating a substantial backlog in patient care.
