All hospitals in England will have to publish the number and details of complaints that they receive. The Department of Health said that this was necessary to prevent a repeat of lapses that occurred at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Between 400 and 1,200 more people died at the trust than would have been expected in a three-year period because of a “lamentable failure of clinical leadership”, two official reviews concluded yesterday.

A change of culture was needed at the trust and across the wider NHS to place more emphasis on “patient and public power”, they said.

The Department of Health said that complaints received by each trust in England would be published on the NHS website.

An investigation this year by the Healthcare Commission uncovered the unusually high death rates reported by the Mid Staffordshire trust between 2005 and 2008, in particular at Stafford Hospital’s accident and emergency department. Follow-up reviews found that patients’ views were not taken seriously enough and local and regional health authorities failed to check properly on standards of care.

The commission report, published in March, concluded that care and management at the hospital were so poor that receptionists were carrying out initial checks at A&E.

Ministers responded by ordering two reports — one covering the current standard of care at the hospital and the other by David Colin-Thomé, the national director for primary care.

Dr Colin-Thomé said: “The events of Mid Staffordshire trust have disturbed us all. What has particularly shocked and disappointed me is that no NHS organisations, staff or representatives of the public reported any serious concerns about emergency services in the hospital.”

The other report, by Sir George Alberti, the national director for emergency care, said that while £3.8 million had been invested in new staff, recruitment and training in the past 12 months, there were still shortages of surgeons and nurses.

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