THE number of formal complaints against Royal Lancaster Infirmary has rocketed, according to latest figures.

There has been 177 separate complaints made against the hospital between April last year and March 1999.

And health chiefs have vowed to make tackling the complaints record their number one priority.

The figures are the worst of the Morecambe Bay Trust area with Westmorland General in Kendal receiving 55 complaints and Furness General in Barrow receiving 79.

The figures are significantly up on last year when RLI received 132 complaints.

Health chiefs have acknowledged the poor figures and vowed to make improvements.

In a report to a local NHS Trust board meeting, nursing director Talib Yassen said that teething troubles with new computer software and the relocation of the trust's complaints department were partly behind the rise.

He said: "The number of complaints received by the trust has increased steadily over the year with the fourth quarter showing a 52 per cent increase over the first quarter. This trend shows no sigh of abating judging from the number of complaints received to date this financial year." The complaints team was disappointed not to have improve response times over the quarter as staff have been making particular efforts in this area but the increased number of complaints and the relocation of the office in February unfortunately appear to have diluted their efforts."

He added: "Improvements in this area remain a priority."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.