Latest figures have stated that in England the complaints about NHS hospitals and community health services are at a record high.

The biggest annual rise has seen by the sector in complaints since records began 12 years ago.

When compared to the last 12 months, in 2009-2010, there was a 13 per cent rise in complaints about hospital and community services which became more than 101,000. An average annual increase of 1.1 per cent was seen since 1997.

About 50 per cent of these complaints were regarding the medical profession. There were other complaints about midwives, nurses, and health visitors and there was one out of 11 complaints regarding administrative staff.

The maximum complaints were regarding attitude of the staff and delays or cancellations to outpatient appointments.

Health Minister Paul Burstow said, "These figures mark the last 12 months of the Labour Government's stewardship of the NHS. Despite the hard work of NHS staff, they demonstrate that, after 13 years of targets and tickboxes, more people than ever complained about their experience of the NHS.”

The chief executive of the Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, added that the status of such complaints was a thing of concern and there was an increase in the number of people calling the helpline to complain about the NHS.