COMPLAINTS about hospital treatment in Swindon have rocketed since the move to new premises at the start of the year.

Figures due to be revealed at tomorrow's monthly meeting of the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust show a 46 per cent increase in formal written complaints over the same period last year.

And the number of informal complaints, where patients raise issues but do not embark on the official complaints procedure, have almost doubled. But the news has been welcomed by the trust, which points to the rise as evidence of greater openness in the organisation and the success of its efforts to encourage feedback from patients.

The trust recorded 101 formal complaints from the start of the year until March 31, compared with 69 in the same quarter the previous year.

Over the same period, the number of recorded informal complaints rose from 85 in the final quarter of last year to 140 in the same period.

Areas of complaints were spread among most departments at the Great Western Hospital, with the standard of nursing care receiving the majority and medical care in the trauma and orthopaedic department also receiving a cluster of complaints.

Hospital spokesman Chris Birdsall said: "We are pleased that we have had an increase in complaints because we are actively seeking people's views and comments about our services and the new hospital. Earlier this year we appointed a new manager to our Patients Advisory Service (PALS), Carl Beech, and we used this as an opportunity to heighten the profile of PALS and to encourage people to come forward with their comments."

He added that the hospital trust was taking concrete steps to address any identified shortcomings.

These range from retraining staff in procedures to stopping the spread of infection, increased mentoring and supervision to ensure appropriate staff attitudes and the printing of new staff information leaflets.