GROWING mistrust following the Harold Shipman murders are two reasons behind rising complaints by patients, it has been claimed.

Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council has seen a 26 per cent rise in complaints against the NHS over the last three months compared to last year's figures.

And chief officer Nigel Robinson said in cases he had dealt with he sensed a growing dissatisfaction that some doctors and other health workers were not always putting the patient's needs and feelings first.

The Dr Shipman hearing, which revealed the Hyde GP could have murdered around 300 patients, had also created an atmosphere where people were more likely to complain, he said.

"In the last year, people seem less tolerant of health care professionals and I think that's symptomatic of the post-Shipman era."

Mr Robinson told a meeting of Blackburn CHC, on average, he had to deal with three or four new complaints a week and had a workload of 73 cases in progress.