My experience of raising concerns (last updated 22 Dec 2025)
During the course of my child’s treatment, I’ve tried to seek help from various NHS professionals, from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust management and from regulators. The outcomes are summarised here:
Individual or organization I’ve contacted for help
Outcome
An unsuitably-trained nurse was the main professional involved in our child’s care. The nurse had only limited training in the condition diagnosed, but was trained to treat a different mental health condition. An acquaintance who was a doctor (but not in mental health) told my child's other parent that patient care was always supposed to be led by a doctor, so we asked if a doctor could get more involved.
We were offered a Teams call with a person called a Service Team Manager, but it was quite unsatisfactory. The person didn't listen to us and even spoke over us some of the time, not letting us finish our sentences. It was extremely upsetting and no change was made in our child's care.
No change was possible; the complaint was referred back to the psychiatrist and things got worse.
Complained to hospital management about cruel behaviour by a psychiatrist
Complained to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about the psychiatrist and the hospital mentioned above
No tailored response; I received a template email explaining that they have discretionary powers (meaning that they choose what they will follow up on).
Contacted Healthwatch, who are described as ‘Your health and social care champion‘ and I believe are somehow associated with the CQC
They couldn’t help me and didn’t pass any information to anyone else. I called them 3 times and they told me that someone would call me back but no one ever did.
Wrote to the (former) CEO of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
After a delay of several months, I received a letter that I found defensive.
Wrote to my MP
My MP has written to the Oxford Health Trust twice on my behalf, once to the current CEO and once to the former CEO. I found the responses from both men dismissive. The MP didn’t seem to have the power to do any more and suggested that I write to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
Wrote to the PHSO
After a delay of several more months, I received an unhelpful response with several inaccuracies. The response failed to address my concerns and placed too much emphasis on how it all made me feel, rather than on the substance of my complaint.
This link is to an article about an interview that The Guardian newspaper conducted with the outgoing head of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in March 2024, where he expresses his views about his experience of interacting with NHS managers.