FEWER people complained about services at Burnley General Hospital during the last 12 months than at any time in the last five years, Health Trust directors will be told.

Greater public awareness of the Patients' Charter was expected to result in a rise in complaints, but this failed to materialise.

Latest figures show the trust received a total of 173 written complaints from April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003, compared with 251 in the previous 12 month period.

The number of complaints has dropped every year in the last five years from 315 in 1997/98 and is now well below the national average.

This year has also seen a dramatic reduction in the number of complaints about communication to patients from 37 in 2001/02 to just 2 in 2002/03. Complaints about staff attitude also fell from 37 to 20 in the same period.

The figures will be presented to a meeting of the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust Board at Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn.

The report also sets out Burnley's performance against the key NHS Plan Access Targets which include inpatient and day case waiting times, outpatient waiting times, A&E performance, cancer two-week wait performance and booked admissions for day case surgery.

Although the hospital fell below its target for A&E performance, a failure blamed on an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting, it met targets in all other categories apart from inpatient and day case waiting times where it fell short by just 3.5 per cent.

Richard Gildert, director of nursing and quality at the East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, said: "The number of complaints has reduced annually in the past five years and is now well below the national published figures for other similar sized trusts. This year has also seen a dramatic reduction in the number of complaints about written and oral communication to patients. Complaints about staff have also fallen.

"We attribute this dramatic decrease to the level of customer care and the availibility of modern matrons or designated members of staff to deal promptly and efficiently with any causes for concern."