Complaint Analysis

Unfortunately, even though training in complaints handling seems pretty robust, the implementation of this training is seriously flawed ...as this information from a disillusioned NHS Complaints handler,who is 'in despair' about it's CORRUPT nature.

His article below:

Managers WITHOUT Mandate

The NHS complaints regulations came into force on 1st April 2009 and all customer relations managers and their staff were offered training on how to listen and respond to patient's concerns, we were encouraged to provide bespoke solutions that fitted the client's needs and reduced wastage within the service.

The Summer 2010 newsletter published by NHS Direct states that:
A named independent investigator should be provided to deal with a complaint.
More emphasis on resolving the complaint preferably over the telephone

Keeping the complainants informed of ongoing investigations and allowing them to comment on the process and findings so that the final responses should not be a surprise

Further contact after complaints have been received by the complainants to ensure that they understand the findings and have a chance to comment or ask questions.
An appeals process so that responses can be challenged if complainants are unhappy with them
More opportunities for complainants to meet with managers to discuss the findings.

When I went on the training we were given some inspirational tales of how other Trusts had addressed long standing problems and found solutions that helped the patients and staff.

We were actively encouraged to go back to our places of work and to apply the same innovative thinking and client support.

No one mentioned covering anything up, whitewashing, stalling or stonewalling we were told categorically to be transparent, supportive, honest and open, providing apology and explanation to complainants and where ever possible taking action to ensure that things were changed to avoid repetition in the future.

I was then sent to training on the 'Being Open' policy. This raises expectations that staff will be open and transparent with complainants when things have gone wrong and when patients have been harmed. There was much discussion about how the policy had been in place for over 5 years and was going to be re launched, why this re launch was needed, how it would help etc.
There was no mention whatsoever of covering things up, whitewashing,stalling, or stonewalling quite the reverse in fact. The spirit of that meeting and that policy was that money will be saved if, when things go wrong, we are open and honest, able to apologise and institute changes.

My role as a PALS co ordinator is to implement those policies (along with colleagues of course) to handle complaints in sensitive and supportive ways, to negotiate speedy solutions and to contribute to service improvements.

No one has ever told me to cover anything up, whitewash, stall or stonewall.

However I see all these things happening on a daily basis from the handling of small complaints to the responses given to large and far reaching ones. It happens because the managers of various departments do not understand that their loyalty is not to the Trust but to the public they serve.

Within each Trust the management structures are a corruption of what the Department of Health has instructed them to be. People of very limited intellect are making the rules fit what they want to do, they are ignoring best practice and they do not implement what the Dept. of Health has given them as guidelines.

We are facing the same scenario as faced by foot soldiers in the trenches of the first world war – they were 'Lions lead by Donkeys' and so are the many hard working staff in the NHS. For sheer stubborn stupidity and money wasting you would have to go a very long way to beat the average NHS manager- this is widely known and in a recent government poll to see what the public wanted to do to save money, cutting NHS managers came out on top.

When I ask complainants at work whether they want a telephone call, letter or meeting to resolve their complaint they invariably say that they 'want the manager sacked'. Alas we do not have this on the DATIX system as a category, but we should have.

We need a national campaign against this micro management without mandate. No NHS manager has the power invested in them to whitewash, cover up, stall or stone wall anything, this is something they have created for themselves, a cushion, a security blanket that pads out numerous jobs and which is entirely bogus.

The re launch of the 'Being Open' policy is needed because after 5 years NHS staff still don't acknowledge its existence. It suits them not to, but it is not their choice to make.

They have no mandate to behave in the way that they do. They are not disciplined for ignoring the policies in place, there is a tacit acknowledgement throughout the NHS that they don't want to see any changes, they don't want to lose any control. A stinging fiscal penalty should be imposed on any Trust that has not complied with the spirit of the 'Being Open' policy, without this there is no incentive for managers to behave any differently. Their jobs roles change so often that they are wary of tackling anyone about anything, for fear that their next career move will be affected.

PALS and complaints need to be independent of the Trusts, financed separately, there to build capacity for ordinary citizens so that they can question what goes on. How many of us have the skills to read medical notes? Even PALS staff don't have training on this, some of us are nurses by profession and have that knowledge but not all of us, the nurses among us may lack other skill sets necessary to investigate robustly the complex cases that arise.

It is time to introduce proper PALS qualifications and more recognition of the work we do.

Empowering PALS and complaints staff to truly investigate, instead of getting us to send the paperwork out to department managers who can then provide the response that they want us to have is essential. Investigations are just a paper chase undertaken by people who have become little more than clerical assistants, when they should be the eyes and the ears of the patients they represent.

Unless external investigators can come in and sort things our properly there will be no improvement in the quality of responses or changes within the system.

If you think that ICAS are rigorous and helpful think again, there are very many unhealthy and cosy relationships at play, people do not want to stand up for anything, they are worried that their name might drop off the Secret Santa list. People who work together day in day out for years form attachments to each other that do not facilitate any dispassionate scrutiny to take place. An independent service that rotated its catchment area would prevent some of those relationships forming.

We need a national campaign against this fixed and outdated mindset of self preservation within Trusts, we need a culling of the corrupt managers who make the decision that warp the honest disclosure that is the patient's right. No one has asked them to behave like this, they are serving the interests of their colleagues, themselves and their Trust they do not have a mandate from the Dept. of Health or the public to behave in such ways.

..............................
This information came via the NHS Reform Group www.nhsreformgroup.com and on a personal level: "People who work together day in day out for years form attachments to each other that do not facilitate any dispassionate scrutiny to take place."...and this includes relationships with Coroners too. We are not getting a realistic picture of system failure but Parliament have been informed....again!

Interesting response ...

I personally have raised formal complaint about the PCT with the following agencies:

1) Office of the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman
2) Information Commissioners Office
3) National Information Governance Board

and let the PCT know the reference numbers of the respective agencies investigations earlier in the year

By my simple arithmetic skills, I can count 3 external agencies involved with just 1 complaint to the PCT