THE number of formal complaints about the Great Western Hospital has risen by 18 per cent compared with last year.

According to the trust's annual report, there were 273 recorded complaints during the financial year until April, compared with 234 for the previous year.

The figure represents one complaint for every 1.324 patients treated. More stringent recording procedures are behind the rise, with the new Patient Advocacy Liaison Service encouraging people to record their feedback.

As reported earlier by the Even-ing Advertiser, the number of recorded formal complaints almost doubled in the last quarter of last year, from 59 to 101, following the appointment of a new Patients Advocacy Liaison Serv-ice manager, Carl Beech.

Mr Beech said: "The Patients' Advocacy Liaison Service has made great efforts to ensure that patients feel able to feedback about the hospitals performance, good or otherwise. We want to be as accessible as possible.

"We welcome the fact that we have received more official complaints about the hospital service because it shows that these efforts are working."

He said that action had already been taken to respond to a number of issues raised.

"Some elderly people have said that they found the corridors in the hospital quite long, so we will be installing benches at strategic points along their length.

"Other people pointed out that the waiting rooms grew quite hot during the summer, so we have equipped these areas with water coolers. We are all about getting members of the public involved in improving the hospital."

The hospital's Medical Direc-torate, which incorporates accident and emergency and medicine for the elderly, was the target of half of the complaints.

While almost all complaints received a holding letter within two working days, only 38 per cent were answered within 20 days.

But the number of compliments far outweigh this number, with one for every 234 patients.