Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Reviews 

533
TrustScore 1 out of 5

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 81 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Reviewers feel that the organization completely fails to properly investigate complaints, often dismissing serious cases prematurely or simply siding with the health service instead of helping families. Many people note that crucial medical evidence and records are constantly ignored during the lengthy assessment process. Consumers also pointed out severe communication problems, stating that caseworkers regularly fail to keep them updated or provide clear explanations about the decisions made. Furthermore, individuals expressed deep frustration with unprofessional staff members who dismiss genuine concerns and show a complete lack of impartiality throughout the entire process.

What people talk about most

Service

Customers consistently note negative experiences with service, describing it as an absolute waste of time and... See more

Customer service

Reviewers mention negative feedback about customer service, expressing deep disappointment and frustration... See more

Ethics

Consumers express deep frustration and disappointment regarding ethics, pointing to a severe lack of... See more

Claim

Customers had negative experiences with claim processes, consistently reporting deep frustration with... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I whistle blew on my serious case emailed the Head several times not once has she ever replied. In my view PHSO is not fit for purpose and should be closed with immediate effect . Not sure what Th... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Yet another organisation funded by government that does nothing but cover things up. There are also many people within our nhs that are registered with the nmc that are not legal in the U.K. or even q... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

corrupt. dishonest. waste of time. ..my medical record being a set of instructions to abuse me (not disputed) they say is not a problem because i can't prove my medical record is used as a medical re... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I made a serious complaint to my local hospital who dodged the issue so I made a very substantial complaint to the ombudsman. They gave my complaint 2 points and told me due to workload they were only... See more


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We investigate complaints about UK government departments, other public organisations and the NHS in England. Our service is free, fair and independent.


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TrustScore 1 out of 5

533 reviews

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81 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

g,please Google DAILY MAIL…GABAPENTIN

Before reading,please Google DAILY MAIL GABAPENTIN.

I went to this organisation after 4 years of being ignored & deliberately letting my health deteriorate after stopping a medication called GABAPENTIN prescribed by my then GP from what was East Parade Medical Practice York.

I was put on GABAPENTIN because of 2 back operations that still left pain,also on tramadol an opiate based medication which hightens the euphoria (A PRESCRIPTION HIGH FOR 10 TO 11 YEARS) not one day did this help with the pain.
The euphoria (high) I was on is what was just pushing everything to the back of my mind not having a care about dangers.
When you are on a high you just get on with things even though I had a lot of visits to A+E with accidents & this is just one of the issues.

I have been off this for 5 years & never gone back to my normal self & the continuing affect it is having on me.

This organisation said they would look into the permanent affects after stopping this medication.
Putting me through a lot of anxiety,stress & worst of all the suicidal thoughts which obviously mean nothing to these people.

After a year or so of being left by the ombudsman still dealing with these things myself.
I received there answer telling me there was nothing they were willing to do.

Two days after this having nowhere left to go & nobody in the authorities who I could trust feeling like they were all covering up for what they do not tell you I attempted to end my life at my GPs Jorvik Gillygate Practice York.
MP Rachel Maskel for York said she would help only for her to start avoiding emails.

This incident was all avoidable by the authorities.
Involving the armed response & having a taser pointed at me & being taken down by about five officers,pepper sprayed & being accused of striking an officer in the attack on me.
I had folded the knife I used & placed on the reception for many to see.
No media coverage not even the police incident website & no CCTV from inside the GP surgery reception when all the receptionists are apparently being abused.

Sorry I cut my wrist needing 8 stitches .

The whole situation kept quiet out of the media & then telling me depending how I tell my statement will depend weather I get charged.
I said I can only tell the truth which involves all the authorities of york, MP Rachel Maskel,Nimbus Care,The NHS & The Ombudsman.
At court a 4 month sentence suspended for 12 month.

This is how much the authorities are willing to let happen to someone & all on GABAPENTIN have a possibility of this if you even manage to get yourself of it.

3×400mg,3×a day=3600mg daily GABAPENTIN.

2×50mg,3×a day=300mg daly TRAMADOL.

I am know trying to get copies of body cam footage (which has been edited)off the police .
Also the solicitor who was provided to me (MT WATSON & WOODHOUSE HARROGATE) who together with the police are avoiding giving me on request copies of evidence which I am entitled to .

The final problem is that Pfizer make this medication who fund the MHRA & NHS millions of pounds each year.

The people that pull the trigger get the blame not the manufacturers.

I only hope you people involved can sleep at night knowing that you have caused more suffering to those who have put there trust in you to look after the people's side of things.

I suppose your wages are blood money at the end of the day as as my thoughts are not cured by your denial.

Thanks for stabbing me & all the others in the country you have failed.

April 12, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Completely useless

Completely useless, inept and waste of tax payers money this organisation. Just another QUANGO organisation which creates jobs for planks and serves no purpose nor benefits the public in any way whatsoever.

Make a complaint with clear-cut 'smoking gun' evidence about another Government organisation and they first reply with "Your complaint is valid for investigation" but ultimately have no.guts or spine to uphold the complaint.

That's all you need to know when thinking about using these planks' "services".

-

Anthony McLaughlin

March 22, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Useless institution living on taxpayers

Contacted the Health Ombudsman Service because my wife was removed as NHS patient from a Dental surgery being pregnant and looking after two other children. Absolute waste of time, they have taken hours of our time collecting information and making investigation and after few months provided us with decision with extremely shallow arguments

March 29, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Don’t bother

Don’t bother. Following legal advice I referred my complaint against my doctors surgery to the PHSO. After six months of the PHSO gathering evidence from myself and the surgery, the PHSO said the nature of my complaint did not meet their criteria for pursuing. From the start the PHSO were fully aware of the nature of my complaint so why didn’t they tell me this at the outset so we could have taken our complaint elsewhere? We had six months of stress and worry. The PHSO had already pursued our complaint for six months and they had all the information they needed to make a decision, but they chickened out of criticising the surgery and abruptly said we did not meet their criteria. What a disgrace

March 22, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Patients Hurt, Support Organisation

Absolutely resistant to investigating the concerns or de-scoping consequences of the issues

Ridiculously long delays before even starting investigation

Highly resistant to acknowledging true impacts

March 23, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Waste of time and money

Will email for months and months and months but not actually do anything, complete waste of time and poor services know this so nothing will change. Pointless entity and a gross waste of resources.

January 17, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Investigated for them, they still effed up

I made 5 or more subject access requests to the relevant healthcare organisation, compiled the information and investigated it myself, then sent the relevant documents with anotations and a timeline in PDF clearly proving my claims. Also bear in mind, I have a academic qualification in investigtion. If I was healthy I would be able to enter multiple career paths at entry or slightly higher as an investigator, so dont take that lightly. I did the investigation for them and they still messed it up.

This process has taken nearly three years and in the last 2 months two PSHO case workers quit and were replaced.

Recently I was issued a reaponse which failed to acknowledge half ish of my claims and seemed to suggest the third case worker had not read my evidence.

This letter also stated they could not fullfill my chosen outcomes without an explanation, as well as mistepresented my chosen outcomes.

I was unable to afford a lawyer for this and in addition I canvassed 40ish lawyers looking for legal aid and was refused by all. The ombudsman was the only option.

As of now I have been off sick for seven years and consequently my ability to start a family or have a career is gone. I am going to enter the menopause in the next few years, my CV has a huge gap in it.

Health is everything and when its gone it leaves a void that sucks everything else out your life. Including basic milestones such as starting a family, having a career, healthy social life, travel. You know, all those good things.

So there you go. Even if you investigate and prove your claims for them, there will be no result. Its a waste of time.

It is more rational under these circumstances to accept you will be permanatly ill and try to make the best of it than to try to complain in order to get replacement healthcare. I asked them for the treatements shown on the NHS website advertised as given for my condition among other things. This simple most important thing they could not achieve.

February 26, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

These are just jobworth civil…

These are just jobworth civil servants..........craven, lazy, disdainful, unaccountable, untrained and above all else wholly unprofessional and amateurish . Their attitude reflects the wider attitude of the British state to its citizens who are of course no proper citizens at all, just Commoners and feudal crown subjects, with nowhere near the civil rights that apply in other western European countries. Think of the Post Office, Grenfell and the various other scandals playing out before our eyes. We are the nobodies in our own land, whilst a small coterie of posh chaps in the government run the show in their own interests with incidental regard for the rest of us, aided and abetted by Sir Humphrey and his army of snake-in-the-grass apparatchiks.

February 15, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Aren't all these red 1 stars telling us something??!

Parliamentary Ombudsman were armed with a plethora of evidence against the Insolvency Service and their failures to fully and properly investigate the conduct of a bankrupt. It took them almost a year to come to a conclusion (which required chasing up at intervals, due to their incompetence), with missed deadlines. These civil servants all 'work' from home (and I use the word 'work' loosely), and are never available to pick up the phone. They are wholly biased towards the governmental department it allegedly investigates. Evidence means nothing, they always have 'legislation' on hand to eliminate the government from any responsibility or remit. Absolutely hopeless and a massive waste of taxpayer's money. These civil servants hold all the power, and they enjoy lording it over us peasants, because they know from the outset what the outcome will be, before they even bother to glance over your complaint. Like all ombudsman services, this one is no exception. They are amoral, corrupt and biased. Save yourself time, energy and disappointment - there will be no justice for the average layperson.

February 21, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The PHSO = Conflicting Contradiction = A CON

PHSO produce reports noting they have a full awareness of the cover up culture with the NHS. They then use that knowledge and experience to ensure the cover up stays exactly that which gives them more fodder to report on at a later date.

There is no better way of wasting time than complaining about an NHS wrong doing, even if you have evidence of the NHS being intentionally malicious.

You will be ignored, your life will be made worse.

#DoctorsLieFACT #DoctorsTreatSymptomsNOTtheCauseFACT
#DoctorsKeepYouSickFACT
#DoctorsFundedByDrugCompaniesFACT
#DoctorsNeverCareAboutYouFACT
#NHS=NationalHarmScamFACT
#PHSO= NOT EVEN WORTH THE EFFORT

January 29, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The pho is a CORRUPT SERVICE

The pho is a CORRUPT SERVICE. I took my case to them and they ignored the facts and protected the nhs failings. That changed my life and require me to have more surgery. I’m so angry they get away with this sort of thing because they know the poor patient who’s suffered at the hands of negligent surgeons and cannot work has no money to spend on judicial review process to take this corrupt organisation on

February 7, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The PHSO is a completely pointless

The PHSO is a completely pointless, incompetent, corrupt quango funded by the taxpayer. It took 3 years simply to accept flimsy and disingenuous "evidence" from a Health Trust. I wish I had not wasted my time writing to this farcical non organisation. A complete waste of taxpayer money.

February 1, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

A Pointless Corrupt Process

A pointless corrupt process. The Parliamentary Ombudsman simply accepted the word of the Department for Education when they claimed to have investigated and reviewed the evidence in my situation, when the truth was that they refused to look at my proof and only accepted the fabricated documentation of the guilty party (a school). The consequences to me included unnecessary long-term unemployment, potential loss of earnings of over £100,000 and damage to my professional reputation. They did not consider any of these consequences to be Seriously Wrong enough to intervene. They proved themselves to be just as corrupt as the Department for Education and guilty party involved.

January 30, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Ombudsmen do not use. only designed to waste time no justice

complaint about dwp. And credit card issue resolved by my self. Not the ombudsmen service

Ombudsmen is not fit for purpose and designed to time waste and do nothing. Its best to take legal action.

waste of time they took 6 months for no reason I suspected it would I used the service 10 years ago in 2024 I thought it would change but no. still the same. they will always side with the other side no matter the evidence and make excuses up. the system and the role of the Ombudsman in any category is to time waste. Only poor people with no money use this service. There will be no justice at all.

you’re better off taking legal action and writing to the company your taking legal action if you don’t fix the problem. I just ended up telling the police on the staff member for harassment. and getting solicitors. person was arrested and charged. I will get justice this way and compensation. had same problem with the financial ombudsmen they side with the credit card or gas and electric companies and waste your time. I just took legal action against credit card before it went to small claims court my claim was settled out of court as soon as they got my letter before action. all my debt was wiped and they paid £10,000 compensation. This was capital one credit card. so, it seems its best to take action yourself instead using this waste of time service Ombudsman should be in jail for fraud and time wasting and wasting public money it’s really designed to time waste and make you think they are helping it’s not, it’s designed not to help you at all. you need to take action yourself and it would be legal action or tell the police depending what your situation it is. we should all get Ombudsman cancelled for good, its really only designed for people who are low on money and cannot afford to take it to court.
My circumstances I have no money low on funds how I did it was to look up the law online, and wrote a legal letter before action to credit cards. And gave them warnings. That did it for me. The dwp I just call the police told them I was being harassed, and I record the it. They saw the evidence person was arrested. Before that I complained nothing was done. If I did not call the police, I believe I would be in prison for murder because the person at the dwp was causing me harm and distress and I was ready to attack them. But I ended up calling the police instead. And make sure you record people just encase you need evidence these people are not above the law. And please complain about the ombudsmen they are a waste of time and corrupt its designed only for poor people. which they know they can mess around with. no one with money will use their service when they have the money to take court action.

January 12, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Only gave one star as there were no…

Only gave one star as there were no minus available. Disgusting, pathetic and a complete waste of my time ( 2years) and an even bigger waste of taxpayers money, nothing more than a jobs worth should be disbanded with immediate effect and spend their salaries and looking after the people who REALLY need it. Good luck to anyone who uses them ( you will need it)

January 18, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This is by far the biggest waste of…

This is by far the biggest waste of taxpayers money in history

Brief History

Home Office had unlawfully delayed to rectify my partners decision of further submissions since September 2021 MP Rachel Hopkins office was dealing with query through them another non fit for purpose servant to public

Terry PHSO manager (ex immigration manager )
Had firstly stated he was aware that home office should act in line to rules in their handbook but can state anything until they reply have in mind this was September 2021
PHSO have continually ignored any emails I have sent were they have duty of care to respond

Terry Management clearly as a ex decision maker of home office new the policies they had broken and ignored

PHSO have mislead public to believe something will be done encroached the publics rights to a fair trial breached the response of duty to reply

I believe we should all lobby for PHSO being not fit for purpose and have them ousted on change.org

They are as corrupted as the authorities that the hard taxpayers money goes into and before i forget the home office had lied to Rachel Hopkins in response to representation made to further submissions this information was passed on to PHSO as this a serious misconduct as a public officer lying to public and M.P fell on deaf ears the new CEO Rachel in PHSO is also useless the lot of them should be sacked for letting home office break the law and just sit back and ignore taxpayers whilst eating our funds .

November 2, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

PHSO and NHS: Unveiling Decades of Corruption and Denied Care

For three decades, I have been consistently denied access to the NHS despite suffering from a severe and rare degenerative disorder that triggers cardiac arrest. Initially evaluated by an expert in the Autonomic Unit at the University College London Hospital (UCLH) back in 1996, whom made a critical misdiagnosis, by a strange coincidence I was prevented from being referred to other consultants. Consequently, despite residing permanently in the UK, I have had to seek healthcare abroad. This disorder necessitates a specialised treatment available at the UCLH's Autonomic Unit, a treatment administered to other patients but inexplicably withheld from me—a clear case of discrimination.

For 21 years, I have been importing and paying this treatment from overseas, as it was prescribed by other consultants seen abroad, yet my rightful access to it via the NHS has been consistently denied. Despite raising a complaint with the Parliament Health and Social Ombudsman (PHSO), it was summarily dismissed following extensive email correspondence along with tangible evidence of my case. I also sought assistance from my local MP, Zarah Sultana, who regrettably chose to ignore my pleas—even a request to bring attention to my case in Parliament was disregarded.

The PHSO's actions unmistakably shielded UCLH, masking their failures with a litany of falsehoods and perjury, all in violation of my human and patient rights. Their consistent downplaying of the severity of my situation further compounds the issue. Over 30 years, I have been unjustly denied critical NHS treatment, revealing the PHSO's shortcomings in legality, flexibility, transparency, fairness, and accountability. Their bias in favor of the NHS, working to conceal its errors, is evident and disappointing.

It is a disgraceful display from an organization expected to champion patient rights and stand against the abuse and neglect perpetrated by the NHS. All done acting in front of cruelty and barbarism.

My story will soon find its place on a website with all the details of the awful and cruel story, and more ahead in a forthcoming book, adopting a style that calls out individuals and institutions responsible—naming and shaming!

November 28, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Ombudsman (due to leave soon)

Ombudsman (due to leave soon), decides unlawfully treated 50s born women don't merit compensation and refers it back to Parliament.
Long drawn-out wait for decisions ends in damp squib, ignoring maladministration verdict. This injustice could and will never be out of time.

November 22, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

1950s Women have been ignored YET AGAIN

We have had six years added at very short or no notice and the buck is being passed YET AGAIN. I’d give a -5 if I could.

Ombudsman capitulates to DWP intransigence NOT to pay a penny and leaves it to MPs to decide

November 22, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

No power or will to question services

No power or will to question services. Unable or unwilling to effectively investigate issues or follow their own complaints procedure. Seems a tick box exercise to listen to a complaint before filing it away.

May 17, 2023
Unprompted review

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