CSSOP01 Procedure for Managing Complaints and Compliments by Provide Community

Procedure for Managing Complaints and Compliments

Version: V2

Ratified by: Quality and Safety Committee

Date ratified: 24/10/2019

Job Title of author: Customer Services Coordinator

Reviewed by Committee or Expert Group Other Expert Group

1. Introduction

Provide is committed to continuous improvement and the feedback from complaints and compliments as a key source of the information required to enable this process.

2. Purpose

This document outlines the procedure to follow when a complaint has been raised and/or compliment received about services delivered by Provide.

This procedure aims to set a process by which;

• Compliments, complaints and customer feedback are managed consistently and equitably

• Customer feedback is logged consistently, enabling trend analysis and targeted learning

3. Scope

The procedure for complaint and compliment management is applicable to all staff (to include Provide volunteers) delivering services for Provide.

Complaint Management

The organisation should:

• Aim for a timely resolution

• Be customer focussed at all times

• Be open, honest and accountable

• Act fairly and proportionately

• Aim to put things right whilst working within the scope of the service

4. Procedure for Managing Complaints

Provide Staff

On receipt of a verbal complaint Provide Staff will:

• Attempt to resolve the verbal complaint at the point of contact. If the complaint cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant they must be advised how to take the complaint to the Customer Service team

• Report any verbal complaints made to them to their Line Manager

• Email a summary of the verbal complaint and action taken to the Customer Services Team to be logged for trend analysis

On receipt of a written complaint Provide Staff will:

• Not respond directly to a formal complaint, even if the complaint is addressed to the service or to them personally

• Ensure all written complaints are forwarded immediately onto the Customer Service Team, to be managed by the Customer Service Team

• Ensure that any service user, relative or carer of a service user who raises a complaint is treated with respect and without bias

Complaints can often be resolved quickly by the service making a telephone call to discuss the complaint with the complainant Some complainants however will prefer not to speak directly with the service they have complained about and the value of immediate telephone contact from the service can be discussed with the Customer Service Team. The Customer Service Team will always encourage the complainant to take a call from the service in addition to receiving a formal response to their complaint.

Customer Service Team

The Provide Customer Service Team (CST) can receive a complaint in the following ways:

• Verbally

• By telephone

• By letter

• By email

• Social Media

A complaint received via social media will be acknowledged by the Communications Team and the complainant directed to the Customer Service Team.

On receipt of a complaint, the Customer Service Team will:

Consider possible media attention as a result of the complaint. If this is a possibility the CST will inform the Provide Communications team and the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director for the service pertinent to the complaint.

Consider the potential Cost/Risk of litigation and should there be a risk, the CST will input the relevant information onto the Cost/Risk spread sheet to be presented at the Finance and Risk Committee meeting.

Consider any potential Safeguarding Concerns?

The CST will inform the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director for the service pertinent to the complaint of any potential safeguarding concerns arising from the complaint.

The Customer Service Team will:

• Log the complaint on to the Datix system under the appropriate triage level.

• Should the severity of the complaint increase or decrease the Customer Service Team will update this on the Datix system

• Ask the complainant if they would find it helpful for a member of the service to contact them direct

• Where required, obtain consent to allow information relevant to the complaint to be shared as appropriate.

• Inform the relevant Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director of the area from which the complaint has arisen, and request confirmation as to who will investigate the complaint

• Inform the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director if the complainant wishes to speak with a member of the team direct

• Acknowledge the complaint in writing within three working days of receipt of the complaint and advise the complainant of the expected timescale for a response

• Keep the complainant updated on the progress of the management of their complaint. Frequency of contact as agreed with the complainant

• Collate a response to the person raising the complaint to include an explanation about what steps to take should they need further clarification of the content of the response, and/or an offer to meet with a member of the service as appropriate

• Ensure that the response states that should the person raising the complaint not be satisfied with the management of their complaint they can escalate their complaint to the Ombudsman. Details of how to contact the Parliamentary Healthcare Ombudsman must be included in the letter of response

• Ensure the response is signed off by the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director of the service or in their absence an appropriate person

The Customer Service Team will make Executive Clinical and Operational Director aware of a received complaint in the following instances:

• The complaint is triaged as severe

• The complaint has the potential for media attention

• There is a high risk of litigation

• There is a high risk to the organisation’s reputation

Assistant Clinical Operations Director

On notification of a complaint within their directorate the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director will need to consider:

• Whether a patient safety incident occurred as part of the complaint and it so ensure an incident form has been completed

Potential implications for patient safety must be assessed as soon as possible to allow urgent action to be taken to prevent similar incidents arising

• Does the content of the complaint need to be logged as a Serious Incident? Consult QSPOL01 Incident Reporting and Management Policy

The Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director must inform the Customer Service Team and Clinical Quality Team if a potential serious incident has been identified from a complaint. The organisation will need to have a co-ordinated approach to the

management of complaints which may be subject to both complaint and Serious Incidents/Duty of Candour processes.

• Are there any potential Safeguarding Concerns?

The Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director must ensure the Safeguarding Team is appropriately informed of and involved in the investigation of any complaints where safeguarding issues have been identified. The Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director must inform the Customer Service team if safeguarding issues have been identified from a complaint in order that the organisation has a co-ordinated approach to the management of complaints which may be subject to both complaint and safeguarding processes.

• Does the complaint raise Conduct and Capability concerns?

If the content of the complaint raises Conduct and Capability in employment concerns the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director will take advice as the appropriate way to proceed from their HR Business Partner.

• Any issues falling outside the scope of the Conduct and Capability proceedings may still be investigated under the complaints process provided that they do not impact upon any Conduct and Capability investigation. A complaint investigation and a Conduct and Capability investigation can be undertaken in parallel to each other

At the conclusion of any Conduct and Capability investigation, the relevant HR Business Partner will advise the Customer Service Team of the content of the response to be sent to the complainant informing which parts of the Conduct and Capability process can be shared with the complainant to comply with staff confidentiality. The response to the complainant will come from the Customer Service Coordinator following discussion and agreement with the relevant HR Business Partner and may include:

• Information as to whether any allegation has or has not been proven to the organisations satisfaction

• Where an allegation has been proven, details can be given about any review of procedures or additional training to staff which is being undertaken as a result

• Where disciplinary action has been taken against an individual, a statement can be made that appropriate actions have been taken, without the exact nature of that action being disclosed

Any findings from the complaints investigation can be used in the Conduct and Capability procedure, but the two procedures must be kept separate and the rights of the staff member to confidentiality must be respected at all times

Throughout this process the line manager and the investigating officer will ensure that the staff member involved is given the opportunity to regularly discuss issues relating to the process and its progress and to be given as much professional and emotional support as is needed by the individual.

Having considered the points listed above the Assistant Clinical Operations Director will:

• Appoint an investigating officer. Consideration should be given to the value of appointing an investigator outside of the team or Directorate involved in the complaint

• Ensure requests for information required to manage the complaint are responded to within agreed timescales and provide appropriate information to assist with reviews and or investigations

• Provide support for staff involved in complaints to engender a fair accountability and transparent culture for complaints management

• Ensure that any recommendations resulting from complaints investigations are populated onto an action plan, monitored for implementation and evaluated

• Ensure that any service user, relative or carer of a service user who raises a concern or makes a complaint is treated with respect and that they are shown no bias by any staff member within Provide

5. Management of Complaints not Relevant to Provide

Complaints can come into the organisation which do not relate to Provide services, that are the responsibility of other organisations or service providers involved in a service user’s care. Where this is the case the following procedure will be followed.

• If a member of staff receives a complaint unrelated to Provide, this should be passed over to the Customer Service Team for redirection. The Customer Service Team will log the complaint on the Datix system (triage 24 hours) and record as redirected to the appropriate organisation

• If a member of the Customer Service Team receives a complaint unrelated to Provide, it should be logged on the Datix system (triage 24 hours) and record as redirected to the appropriate organisation

6. Management of a Multi-Agency Complaint

Some complaints involve more than one provider of care (multiple agencies) to a service user and in these cases the following procedure will be followed.

• If a multi-agency complaint is received by the Customer Service Team, a member of the Customer Service Team will ascertain where and with which agency or organisation the majority of the complaint sits. If this is not Provide, the complaint will be sent to the appropriate agency or organisation requesting that they manage the complaint, from acknowledgement of the complaint to response

• The Customer Service Team will co-operate with the agency or organisation managing the complaint to ensure any response required from Provide is given in a timely manner

• If Provide are to manage the response, a member of the Customer Service Team will facilitate the response process, ensuring all relevant responses are requested in a timely manner

7. Other Types of Complaint

Complaints by members of Provide staff relating to contract of employment should be managed in line with HRPOL15 Grievance policy, HRPOL 30 Provide Dignity at Work Code of Practice, HRPOL14 Disciplinary policy, HRPOL23 Equal Opportunities and Valuing Diversity Policy.

Complaints arising from the Data Protection act 1998 or the Freedom of Information act 2000 will be managed in line with the organisations complaints policy.

Any employee who wishes to express a complaint but is unwilling to discuss their concern with their Line Manager should refer to the Freedom to Speak Up (Whistleblowing) policy.

8. Learning from Experience

Provide is committed to the continual improvement of our services and positive experiences for our service users, their relatives and carers.

The outcomes from a complaint should be discussed at the service Team Meetings to allow a period of reflection and discussion. On completion of the management of a complaint the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director (or Nominated Person) for the service will:

• Ensure that any recommendations resulting from complaints investigations are populated onto an action plan.

• Ensure the action plan is monitored and the recommendations are implemented within the agreed time scale

• Ensure that the impact of the completed actions are evaluated

• Provide evidence at the Quality &Safety meeting that any learning has been shared with the relevant teams and across the organisation as appropriate

• Ensure that any new or additional training identified from complaints is reported to the Learning & Development Strategy Group for prioritisation of need

• Ensure the Customer Service Team is sent a copy of the action plan once completed

On completion of the management of a complaint the Customer Service Team will:

• Log recommendations, actions and evidence of the sharing of the learning onto the Datix system

9. Requests for Recompense and/or Compensation

On completion of the management of a complaint, a complainant might request financial recompense. Any request for recompense must be brought to the attention of the Customer Service Team who will escalate the request to the Executive Clinical and Operational Director

If a letter of claim (compensation) is received by the organisation this must be passed as soon as it comes in to the Contracts and Legal Services Manager within the Business Strategy and Service Delivery team to initiate the Claims Process.

10.Vexatious Complainants

Occasionally contact will be received from those raising complaints that can be threatening and aggressive in nature and such contact should be reported to the organisations ASMS Head of Safety & Resilience for advice going forward.

11.Persistent Complainants

Our organisation will do all it can to resolve a complaint to the complainants satisfaction, to confirm the findings of any investigation, to be factual open and honest and to explain how a complainant may take the complaint forward if they are not satisfied with our management of their complaint. In some instances the pursuit of resolution of a complaint may deem the complainant to be classed as persistent complainant in that he/she:

• Persists in pursuing a complaint when the complaints procedure has been fully and properly implemented and exhausted

• Seeks to prolong contact by changing the substance of a complaint or continually raising new issues and questions whilst the complaint is being addressed

• Are unwilling to accept documented evidence as being factual e.g. drug records, GP records, nursing notes

• Denies receipt of an adequate response despite evidence of correspondence specifically answering their questions

• Has, in the course of addressing a complaint, had an excessive number of contacts with the organisation placing unreasonable demands on staff (contact may be in person or by telephone, letter or e-mail)

• Displays unreasonable demands or expectations and fail to accept that these may be unreasonable (e.g. insist on responses to complaints or enquiries being provided more urgently than is reasonable or normal recognised practice)

The decision to identify a complainant as persistent will be taken by the Executive Clinical & Operations Director and where the complainant meets sufficient criteria to be classified as a persistent or habitual complainant, the Executive Clinical & Operations Director will write to the complainant setting parameters for a code of behaviour and the lines of communication.

If these terms are contravened, the Chief Executive Officer will write a letter informing the complainant that he/she is confident that the organisation has responded fully to the points raised; that every effort has been made to resolve the complaint and that correspondence with the complainant is now at an end.

12. Compliments

As an organisation, Provide values the feedback it receives from service users and compliments come into the organisation via cards, emails, letters, telephone or verbally to staff.

To ensure that all compliments received are recorded by the organisation, the service should:

• Forward all written compliments received to the Customer Service Team within the month they are received

• Inform the Customer Service Team by email of verbal compliments received Compliments that come direct to the Customer Service Team will be forwarded to the Assistant Clinical Operations Director/Assistant Director of the service for dissemination to the team.

All compliments received by the Customer Service Team either from the service or direct will be logged on datix under the relevant service.

Compliment information forms part of the report that is presented at the Quality & Safety meeting and to the Board and is used to inform the organisation about things that are done well and to give positive feedback to staff and teams when the compliment is about them or their service.

13. Monitoring Compliance of the Document

The Customer Service Coordinator is responsible for the monitoring of this procedure in liaison with their Line Manager.