Complaints system to simplify

The Government is planning to launch a new combined health and social care complaints system to make it easier for people to raise issues and concerns.

Currently, there are separate complaints procedures for health and adult social care which can be difficult when people use a combination of services and for those services to respond. 

Instead, a simple two-stage complaints system focused on local resolution will be introduced.  If a complaint cannot be resolved, then an investigation by the Health or Local Government Ombudsman, will replace the often lengthy and bureaucratic procedures currently in place.

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust (HMRPCT) currently provides a robust complaints and enquiry service through its Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).  The PALS team have handled an incredible 2,052 enquiries over the past 10 months, an impressive increase of 18.6 per cent on the same period last year. 

“The PCT is constantly working to make the patient experience run as smoothly as possible but of course there are times when additional support or intervention is required, which is when the PALS team comes in,” said Denise Dawson, Patient Experience Manager at HMRPCT. 

“We receive all sorts of enquires.  Some are quite complex concerns covering both health and social care services and others are simpler enquires that can be resolved in one single call, but everyone contacting PALS receives the same treatment.  The fact that we have only received 24 formal complaints over the past 10 months shows that the PCT is very proactive and effective at dealing with issues and can resolve most cases.  The PCT also take complaints and concerns into account when improving services, to ensure public needs are met.” 

Commenting on the proposed changes to the complaints system, Mrs Dawson added: “The new complaints procedure proposed by the Governement will make the whole experience of making a complaint simpler, more user-friendly and far more responsive to people’s needs. It also emphasises that health and social care services should routinely learn from complaints, feeding into service improvement.”

Pilots of the new complaints system will start in April for six months in preparation for a national roll out in April 2009. 

Health Minister Ann Keen, commented: "I know that people find the current complaints system confusing. Some may also avoid complaining because they feel too intimidated or worry about damaging their relationship with their GP or social worker. This must change.

"This new streamlined approach will remove the need to follow a rigid set of procedures and replace them with a more open, flexible and personal service. It makes sense for everyone to use a more locally based system for complaints - one the public feel they can trust. It is in the interests of health and social care providers to be more accountable to their local communities.

The PALS team can be contacted on freephone 0800 1214430.