Making a complaint with AI? Why shorter, clearer letters can get better results
Families supporting older relatives and friends may sometimes need to raise concerns with a GP surgery, hospital, school, care provider or other organisation. Whether you are helping someone challenge a decision, explain poor communication or seek answers about their care, it is important that their concerns are heard and taken seriously.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help people put their thoughts into words, particularly if they find writing difficult, have limited confidence or face language barriers. But there is a growing concern that AI is also encouraging people to send lengthy, complicated complaint letters that can make it harder to resolve problems.
When a complaint becomes too long
The Medical Protection Society (MPS), which advises healthcare professionals on legal matters and professional indemnity, reports that some GP practices are receiving AI-generated complaints running to 20 pages or more.
In a poll of almost 160 GP practice managers across the UK, just 7% said they had not encountered an AI-generated complaint. Nearly half (45%) said these complaints were increasing workloads and negatively affecting staff wellbeing and morale.
According to the MPS, some letters contain complicated arguments, questionable legal claims and formal language that makes it difficult to identify what the patient is actually unhappy about.
The problem is not that people are making complaints. Patients and families have every right to raise concerns about the care they receive. Complaints can highlight mistakes, improve services and help prevent similar problems happening to others.
Rather, it is the way some complaints are being written that is causing concern.
Why longer letters may not help
When supporting an older relative or friend, it can be tempting to use AI to produce a comprehensive letter covering every detail of what has happened. AI may generate a lengthy document filled with formal phrases, references to legislation and arguments that sound authoritative.
However, more words do not necessarily make a complaint stronger.
A long, complicated letter can make it harder for staff to identify the main problem, understand what has happened and work out what needs to be done. If important details are buried among pages of background information or legal language, investigating the complaint may take longer.
AI can also introduce inaccurate information, make assumptions or include legal arguments that do not apply to the situation. A letter may sound convincing without accurately reflecting the facts.
This can create additional work for staff who are already under pressure. In healthcare, that time may otherwise have been spent responding to patients and delivering care.
Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, chair of council at the Royal College of GPs, has warned that AI-generated complaints can be unnecessarily lengthy or contain inaccurate information. She emphasises that the priority is understanding the patient’s concerns, what happened and what can be done to address them.
How families can use AI constructively
For families supporting older people, AI can still be a useful tool. It can help organise a confusing sequence of events, improve spelling and grammar, or turn notes into a clear and polite letter.
The key is to use AI as an assistant, not to let it take over the complaint.
Here are some practical steps to follow:
- Start with the main concern. Explain in a few sentences what went wrong, when it happened and why it matters. For example, a complaint might concern repeated difficulty obtaining an appointment, a delay in arranging care or a failure to communicate an important decision.
- Stick to facts. Include relevant dates, conversations, decisions and events. Distinguish between what you know happened and what you believe may have happened. Avoid speculation or accusations that cannot be supported.
- Explain the impact. Describe how the situation affected your relative or friend. This might include distress, confusion, an avoidable delay or difficulty accessing a service.
- Say what you would like to happen next. Be specific. You might ask for an explanation, an apology, a review of a decision, a correction to a record or details of what will change to prevent a recurrence.
- Ask AI to make the letter clearer, not more threatening. If you use an AI tool, ask it to organise your notes into a short, factual and courteous complaint. Avoid asking it to add legal arguments, cite legislation or make the letter sound more official unless you have a specific, verified reason to include those details.
- Check every word before sending. Make sure the letter is accurate, remove anything irrelevant and delete statements or legal references that you cannot verify. The final letter should reflect your relative’s actual experience and wishes.
Protect personal information
Families should also be careful about the information they enter into AI tools. Complaints can contain sensitive details about someone’s health, finances, education or personal circumstances.
AI providers may process submitted information in different ways, including using it to improve their services. Privacy arrangements vary between providers.
Avoid entering names, dates of birth, addresses, NHS numbers, medical records or other identifying details unless you have checked the service’s privacy arrangements and are comfortable with how the information may be handled. You can usually draft a letter using descriptions such as “my elderly relative” or “the GP appointment in March” and add necessary identifying details separately before sending it to the organisation.
If you are writing on behalf of someone else, make sure you have their agreement where possible and respect their preferences about what should be shared.
Remember: you do not need legal-sounding language to be taken seriously
The Public Service Ombudsman has published guidance on using AI to write complaints. Its advice is straightforward: simple, clear language explaining what happened is more helpful than complicated, formal writing.
A complaint does not need to run to 20 pages to be important. Nor does it need to threaten legal action or quote legislation to deserve a proper response.
For families helping an older relative or friend, the most effective approach is often to write a short letter setting out the facts, explaining the impact and asking for a reasonable outcome.
If the situation is complicated, a brief initial complaint can establish the key issues, with relevant documents or a timeline supplied separately if needed. Keep copies of correspondence and follow the organisation’s complaints procedure.
Most importantly, keep the person at the centre of the complaint. Their experience, concerns and desired outcome matter far more than how sophisticated a letter sounds.
AI can help people find the words they need. Used carefully, it can make complaints more accessible and less stressful. But the aim should always be to make concerns easier to understand and resolve, rather than to produce the longest or most legally impressive letter possible.
A simple complaint letter template
You do not need complicated language or a lengthy letter to raise a concern. Use this template as a starting point and adapt it to the situation.
Subject: Complaint about [briefly describe the issue]
Dear [name or complaints team],
I am writing on behalf of myself / my [relationship], [name], to raise a concern about [briefly explain what happened] on or around [date].
The situation has affected them by [explain the impact briefly]. I am concerned because [explain why you feel the matter needs attention].
I would be grateful if you could look into this matter and explain what happened. I would also like to know what steps can be taken to address the issue and prevent it happening again, where appropriate.
Please let me know if you need any further information. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your contact details]
[Your relationship to the person, if applicable]
A final tip for readers
If you use AI to help write your complaint, ask it to make your own notes clearer and more concise. Check the finished letter carefully for accuracy, remove unnecessary personal information and make sure it reflects what you genuinely want to say. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, respect their wishes and check whether the organisation needs their consent before discussing their circumstances with you.
Note: who wrote this?
We did ask ChatGTP to help us write this article, based on a press release from Associated Press and our own anecdotal experience. So this is food for thought, not strict instructions on how to make a complaint, but we hope it is helpful.
Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Unsplash