In September Mr Bacon wrote to Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), raising concerns over whether the Healthcare Commission, which receives £69 million from taxpayers, was delivering value for money.

In replying to Mr Bacon, Sir John Bourn refers to widespread concerns about the Healthcare Commission and states that the NAO has received approaches from members of the public about the handling of individual complaints against the NHS and, in particular, the Healthcare Commission’s performance in carrying out second stage independent reviews.

Sir John states that these concerns have prompted the NAO to start the scoping work for a study of the NHS complaints process, including the Commission’s role within it.

Mr Bacon said today: “The Healthcare Commission is in a mess and is neither value for money for the complainant nor the complained against. It is not dealing with the number of complaints that are inevitably coming its way, partly because its estimated workload appears to have been calculated on the back of an envelope”.

“Many complaints are simply not being dealt with adequately, which causes delay, distress and distrust. Patients deserve better and I am pleased the NAO is taking steps to investigate this chaos”.

10 November 2006