Airedale NHS Trust sometimes reacts defensively to patients' complaints.

that is the view of Isobel Scarborough, a leading member of Airedale Community Health council (CHC) a body which fights for patients' interests in the NHS. She says trust management claim to use complaints as a means to improve services. But she says staff react defensively when patients complain.

She concedes that the trust has introduced a personal touch into the complaints system and is trying to deal with matters as quickly as possible. But she says there are still concerns about the time taken in many cases.

Now the CHC's Patients' Charter sub-committee is to examine the trust's complaints system by carrying out what it calls a quality audit.

Members want to know exactly how complaints are dealt with. But because of patient confidentiality individual cases cannot be looked at and they will be confined to checking up on procedures.

Mrs Scarborough says: "We want to see if there is a satisfactory outcome."

She says the CHC wants to know how the trust matches up to government requirements and to what patients feel is just. "Airedale is not as bad as many places but there is room for improvement," she says.

A report to the trust board last month revealed that in the quarter up to September 1998 42 per cent of complaints were concluded within the government target time of four weeks, and 58 per cent were dealt with within the 13-week standard.

Forty-three complaints were made in the three months between July and September -15 about the attitude or manner of staff, lack of information and/or communication, and two about nursing care. Six people complained about clinical treatment and six about discharge arrangements. Other complaints ranged from waiting times to facilities and most - 24 - involved surgery.

During 1997-98 156 complaints were made, compared with the national average per trust of 211. A total of 70 were resolved locally within the target time compared with the average 136.

but the four requests for independent reviews matched the national average.

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