Hundreds of written complaints were made against GP surgeries in Herefordshire last year, new figures show.

NHS Digital figures show that 406 written complaints were made against doctors' surgeries in the NHS Herefordshire CCG in 2018-19.

Of the 401 resolved – some were carried forward or left until the next year – 25% were fully upheld, and 14% partially upheld.

Hereford Medical Group received 220 written complaints last year. Of 217 resolved, 48 were fully upheld.

The most common reason for complaints against GP surgeries in the county was communication.

Cases in which no staff were involved or staff were categorised as other were the most common subject of complaints, mentioned in 56% of new cases – followed by GPs (23%) and administrative staff including receptionists (17%).

The British Medical Association's GP committee chair, Dr Richard Vautrey, said: "This survey shows much of the dissatisfaction felt by patients stems from communication problems, rather than clinical errors.

"Doctors know that they simply don't have enough time to spend with their patients and cope with rising demand, with the risk that communication issues could arise.

"All clinicians want to do their jobs safely, but need the time, resources and funding to be able to do that."

NHS dentists in the CCG received a further 49 written complaints in 2018-19 – 29 were fully upheld and none partially.

The Royal College of GPs said it knows from the last independent GP patient survey that the great majority of patients have a good experience of general practice, and this demonstrates the hard work and dedication of GPs.

While NHS Digital said that data quality issues meant complaints could not be compared year-on-year, the figures show that 276 written complaints were submitted against GPs in the Herefordshire CCG in 2017-18, and 38 against dentists.