A new report shows a hospital trust in East Kent is one of the top 10 most complained about in the country.

The Health Service Ombudsman says it dealt with 110 complaints about the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust in the last year.

That increased from 89 complaints in 2009/10, ranking it as sixth most complained about in the country.

It compares with the trust with the highest number of complaints - the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust - which had 171 complaints.

The Kent trust is one of the largest in the country, and runs five hospitals including the William Harvey in Ashford, the Kent and Canterbury in Canterbury and QEQM in Margate.

But Steve Hams, Deputy Chief Nurse and Head of Quality at the trust thinks the figures have to be put into context.

He said: "The key thing for us is that only three of those 110 complaints have actually been formally investigated by the Ombudsman. So when you think about the total number of interactions we have with patients ever year, about 1.2 million, three specific complaints is actually fairly small."

Audio: KMFM's Nisha Chopra talks to Steve Hams

Nationally the omubdsman had 15,066 health complaints in 2010/11, compared to 14,429 in 2009-10.

Most patients complained about clinical care and treatment, with gripes about diagnoses and communication high on the list.

Patients being struck off from their GP was one of the key criticisms.

Last year, the number of complaints about people being removed from their GP’s list accounted for more than a fifth of all complaints about GPs investigated.

This was a rise of 6% on 2009-10.

In the report, the Ombudsman said: "This report shows how, at a local level, the NHS is still not dealing adequately with the most straightforward matters.

"Minor disputes over unanswered telephones or mix-ups over appointments can end up with the Ombudsman because of knee-jerk responses by NHS staff and poor complaint handling.

"While these matters may seem insignificant alongside complex clinical judgments and treatment, they contribute to a patient’s overall experience of NHS care."