COMPLAINTS about the NHS have risen in Scotland, with frontline hospitals and the care received by prisoners causing the most disquiet.

More than 22,400 complaints were lodged about the health service in 2014-15, a 9% increase on the previous year.

Of these, 7307 related to acute hospitals in 2014-15, up more than 6% .

Scottish Labour said it was little wonder complaints had risen when patients were having to spend hours waiting in accident and emergency departments.

Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s spokesperson for Public Services said: “Yet again here is the evidence that the SNP Government are failing the people of Scotland. The number of complaints about NHS hospital and community health services has gone up every year for the past five years and is now almost double what it was then.

“SNP Ministers cannot blame the staff who are overworked and under resourced. The buck stops with them."

Responsibility for delivering healthcare to prisoners transferred to the NHS in November 2011 and there has been a massive rise in complaints from prisoners as health boards have made it easier for them to complain.

More than 30% of the complaints related to prison health services and a high proportion of the issues raised about GPs relate to prisoner healthcare.

The report released by the Information Services Division of the NHS said: "Looking at GP complaints (2,028) by service area shows that 1,856 (92%) are from prison services."

Across all the complaints treatment and staff are the most common causes of concern, followed by waiting times. Issues with the environment such as cleanliness were also raised 1167 times. Around 57% of the complaints were upheld.

While the rate of complaints compared to hospital workload has increased, statisticians calculate that they only relate to 0.05% of all NHS activity.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said the number of complaints reflected greater awareness of how to give the NHS feedback.

She said: “In the overwhelming majority of cases the NHS does a fantastic job. However, in an organisation of this size, which deals with such a vast and increasing number of patients, there will be occasions when people’s experiences of the NHS do not meet their expectations. When that happens boards must listen to and act on that feedback. Indeed, we want and need to hear the views of patients, in particular when things go wrong, so we can learn and do better the next time."