Complaints

Nurse Call accepts the rights of service users, family members, carers, any member of the public or third parties via agency, to make complaints and to register concerns about the services received or conduct of our staff. It further accepts that they should find it easy to do so, by means of meeting, telephone, email or letter. It welcomes complaints and looks upon them as opportunities to learn, adapt, improve and provide a better service.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (2011) define a complaint as:

“an expression of dissatisfaction by one or more members of the public about an organisation’s action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by or on behalf of the organisation.”

Utilising the recommendations of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) further information here , Nurse Call will ensure in dealing with any complaint, it is;

User-focused: We put the complainant at the heart of the process.

Accessible: We appropriately and clearly communicate, easily understood and available to all.

Simple and timely: We have as few steps as necessary within an agreed and transparent timeframe.

Thorough, proportionate and consistent: We provide quality outcomes in all complaints through robust but proportionate investigation and the use of clear quality standards.

Objective, impartial and fair: We should be objective, evidence-based and driven by the facts and established circumstances, not assumptions, and this should be clearly demonstrated.

In doing so, we will..

Seek early resolution: We aim to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity, to the service user’s satisfaction wherever possible and appropriate.

Deliver improvement: We are driven by the search for improvement, using analysis of outcomes to support service delivery and drive service quality improvements.

Furthermore;

• It is our intention to ensure that complaints are dealt with properly and that all complaints or comments by service users and their relatives, carers and advocates are taken seriously by the Nurse Call management team.
• All complaints should teach us how to improve conditions or circumstances for our service users whenever relevant, resulting in better care for all. It is also a chance to reflect, review policies and provide further training.

In addition to encouraging anyone to complain, this will include our own staff. Staff members will be encouraged to relay to management any complaint of any nature.

Whenever possible, front line resolution should be followed. This can be done by any staff member, whenever appropriate.

When is front line resolution appropriate?

As a matter of course, any staff member being presented with a complaint (regardless of whether that complaint has been submitted in writing, in person or by telephone) should attempt to resolve the issue that has been raised.

Not all complaints will be suitable for front line resolution. The following guidance should be followed in deciding if front line is appropriate (as recommended by the SPSO):

Frontline resolution (handled within <24 hours from complaint, whenever practicably possible)

• A service that should have been provided has not been provided
• A service has not been provided to an appropriate standard
• A request for a service has not been answered/actioned
• A complaint that a staff member was rude or unhelpful
• A staff member or contractor failed to attend a scheduled appointment

The member of staff receiving the complaint should consider four key questions:

1 What is the complaint?

2 What does the service user wish to achieve by complaining?

3 Can I achieve this, or provide an explanation as to why not?

4 If I can’t resolve this who can I refer the complaint to for frontline resolution?

It is important for Nurse Call staff who are the subject of or have a clear conflict of interest of a complaint should not handle or respond to the complaint but refer this to their supervisor immediately or by contacting Nurse Call base: 0141 639 1802 or On Call number 07865 937899

It is the nature of the complaint (i.e. non-complex/non-contentious), rather than the means by which it is presented, that should determine whether a complaint is handled at the frontline stage. A complaint in writing could, therefore, be resolved at the frontline. Where a complaint has been successfully resolved at the frontline stage, and the outcome has been communicated to the complainant either by face-to-face, telephone or email communication, there is no additional requirement to send further written confirmation to the service user although Nurse Call managers may decide to do so.

If the manager (via the complainant) has further enquiries to be made to reach a resolution, the manager should respond back to the complainant within 3 working days (no more than 5 working days). This timescale can only be extended to a maximum of 10 working days, between management and the complainant (with clear and justifiable reason) mutually, in the event of exceptional circumstances. All complaints will in addition, be referred on to the partners who will maintain an overview of responses also.

There may be occasions where a complainant simply refuses to engage with attempts to achieve frontline resolution and insists that their complaint be fully investigated, and a formal response provided. Although every effort should be made to resolve complaints at the frontline stage of the complaint, in these circumstances’ complaints should be escalated to the investigation stage. Nurse Call recognises that it is the complainants right to have this escalated, if they so wish.

Investigation

An investigation process will take place. This will involve a thorough investigation by our management team, which will be led by the manager of the registered service. It will also involve any necessary action taken where failures have been identified.

On receiving a complaint, the manager should address the following three key questions:

1 What is the complaint?

2 What does the service user wish to achieve by complaining?

3 Are the service user’s expectations realistic and achievable?

The answers to these questions should be established and agreed by the service provider and service user at the outset. In many cases the answers will be clear, but where they are not, the service provider should ask the service user directly for clarification. Once the specific points of complaint and the desired outcome are established, the complaint handler can use these to focus the investigation. A proper investigation starts with a thorough review of the circumstances being complained about.

The scale of the investigation should be proportionate to the issues complained about. The manager should seek to establish:

• What should have happened?
• What did happen?
• What was the cause of any identified failings?
• What can be done to rectify any failings?

On receiving a complaint, the manager should address the following three key questions:

1 What is the complaint?

2 What does the service user wish to achieve by complaining?

3 Are the service user’s expectations realistic and achievable?

The answers to these questions should be established and agreed by the service provider and service user at the outset. In many cases the answers will be clear, but where they are not, the service provider should ask the service user directly for clarification. Once the specific points of complaint and the desired outcome are established, the complaint handler can use these to focus the investigation. A proper investigation starts with a thorough review of the circumstances being complained about.

The scale of the investigation should be proportionate to the issues complained about. The manager should seek to establish:

• What should have happened?
• What did happen?
• What was the cause of any identified failings?
• What can be done to rectify any failings?

The investigation process:

Step 1 – Immediate action. In the event of an incident, immediate action to be taken may include making the area safe, preserving the scene and notifying relevant parties. Also considering ASP reporting, immediate referrals or support required.

Step 2 – Plan the investigation based on the complaint and possibilities.

Step 3 – Data collection. Written accounts, interviews, records held, witnesses.

Step 4 – Data analysis.

Step 5 – Corrective actions.

Step 6 – Reporting.

The conclusion reached must be based on an objective analysis of the evidence and should provide a clear explanation of this analysis. It is essential that all points raised by the service user and agreed at the start of the investigation are properly and fully considered in the service provider’s response. Multiple subjects of complaint relating to a similar issue can be grouped together or summarised.

The complaint handler should aim to resolve the complaint by either meeting the service user’s expectations or, where this is not appropriate, providing a full explanation of the service provider’s position.

• If any of the following are reported, CI and relevant authorities will be notified:

• Any allegations of abuse of service users.
• Conduct which may be a criminal offence.
• Serious malpractice.
• Circumstances that indicate a present or potential risk of harm to adults.

• If employees are asked to provide a statement for a workplace investigation, this must be provided immediately, or within 7 days. They may be able to find a statement guide to follow, with their regulatory body. This will be signed and dated by the employee and given to the investigating lead manager who will also sign, and date as ‘received’.

• Where a complainant needs independent help to make their complaint, an independent advocacy service may be able to help. More information about these services can be found at: Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, Melrose House, 69a George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2JG. Website: www.siaa.org.uk. Tel: 0131 260 5380. Fax: 0131 260 5381

• All formal complaints, not available for frontline resolution, will be acknowledged within 3 working days, and will be responded to within 20 working days after the date on which the complaint is made to allow a period for investigation and response, or such shorter period as may be reasonable in the circumstances, inform the complainant of the action (if any) that is to be taken.

Documentation for record keeping:

• Details kept by Nurse Call for their records and for the purpose of supplying such information to the CI will include any complaints made by people who use the service, representatives, relative or other person.

Including details of:

• The category or nature of the complaint (e.g. complaint about staff attitude, complaint about service provision)
• The service or area of the organisation complained about
• what action was taken to resolve the complaint
• The outcome of the complaint
• Whether the service user was satisfied with the outcome

A complaint log will be required which will include all complaints to be documented.

If the Care Inspectorate notify Nurse Call of a complaint, unknown or otherwise, we will supply to the Care Inspectorate at its request a statement in accordance with SSI 2011/210 Regulation18, containing a summary of the complaints made during the preceding 12 months and the action that was taken in respect of each complaint.

Redress

Manager/s may consider different approaches of redress that will resolve their complaint (further suggestions can be provided on SPSO documentation, p16 here):

An apology

An explanation

Correcting the error

Financial redress (including ex-gratia payments)

• Communication regarding a formal complaint will be by letter or a reciprocal method. For the purpose of clarification, this form of communication includes both a postal address and where available an electronic mail address, but an electronic mail address may not be substituted for a postal address. If this period is exceeded, a reason will be provided.

• If the response is not satisfactory, regulations require that it will be highlighted in the reply that the complainant has the right to notify our regulating body at any time, the Care Inspectorate (CI), failing that, to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), including their contact details.

• There may be occasions where an organisation has no option but to ‘suspend’ a complaint investigation in circumstances where the case cannot be closed but, for reasons out with the service provider’s control, it cannot be progressed either. Examples of such situations may include cases where the organisation cannot get the information it requires as a result of incapacity/health issues or in cases where a person cannot be contacted. Suspending a complaint should be very much the exception with any decision to suspend an investigation being agreed by both managers of the service mutually. A decision to suspend should be formally recorded and be for a defined period of time at the end of which it should be reviewed.

Nurse Call welcomes the right to liaise and contact the CI with a query or direction required. Nurse Call will notify the CI by means of e Forms, if the complaint, disclosed events leading to this, or outcome are deemed as a notifiable event.

In reference to ‘The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011’, Nurse Call will supply a written copy of the complaint’s procedure to every service user and to any representative if that representative so requests.

Contact Details

Nurse Call

By post or in person:

Nurse Call (Manager)
3 Pilmuir Holdings
Malletsheugh Road
Newton Mearns
Glasgow
G77 6PS

By e-mail: info@nurse-call.co.uk

Or telephone: 0141 639 1802 (Office) or if urgent: 07865 937899 (On Call phone)

Care Inspectorate

Purpose of the Care Inspectorate:

The Care Inspectorate’s job is to ensure people receive safe, high-quality, compassionate care that meets their needs and promotes their rights and choices, if any of these have been in any way compromised by Nurse Call, anyone has a right to contact them at any time in making sure that we meet the right standards.

Further information surrounding making a complaint to the Care Inspectorate information can be found online: http://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/news/4112-complaints-about-care-services

To discuss or notify of a complaint at any time, contact:

By telephone: 0345 600 9527

email: enquiries@careinspectorate.com

Or access a complaints form online at: http://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/online-complaint-form

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

 

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) can be accessed online at: www.spso.org.uk where further advice on their process can be obtained and a complaints form can be downloaded at www.spso.org.uk-complain , or they can be telephoned on Freephone 0800 377 7330 or 0131 225 5300

or by Post to: FREEPOST SPSO.