Meeting documents

            Meeting: Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 29/03/2004 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A9 Complaints about the National Health Service

         

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Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee 29 March 2004 Complaints in the National Health Service

Report of Head of Overview and Scrutiny

Purpose of Report

1. To explain how local Councillors should deal with issues raised by constituents which might be complaints against the National Health Service.

Background

2. Sally Young from the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health was asked to provide some information for Councillors who were approached by constituents and wished to complain about issues in the National Health Service.

3. I am attaching a copy of a briefing note prepared by Sally together with a list of contacts for the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.

Recommendation

4. You are asked to note this information.

Contact: Ian Mackenzie Tel: 0191 383 3506

Who can complain?

Anyone who is receiving, or has received, NHS treatment or services can complain. If an individual is unable to make a complaint then someone else, usually a relative or close friend can complain on their behalf. They will need written permission to take up the complaint from the individual concerned. Usually the NHS will only investigate those complaints that are made within 6 months of the event, or within six months of the realisation that there is something to complain about - as long as that is not more than 12 months after the event itself. The time limits can be waived if there are good reasons why an individual could not complain sooner.


Who can help?

Each NHS Trust and Primary Care Trust will have a Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS). These are staff who are trained to offer: The local PALS can be contacted by:
There is also the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS). These are staff employed locally by Citizens Advice and they are independent of the NHS.
ICAS staff can: The local ICAS can be contacted by:

How are formal complaints made?

Wherever possible, the complaint should be made to someone close to the cause of the complaint - a nurse, doctor, receptionist or practice manager, for example. In most cases, it should be possible to sort out the complaint straight away. This is called Local Resolution. If the individual would prefer to talk to someone not directly involved in their care they can contact the Complaints Manager at the NHS Trust concerned, or the Complaints Manager at the Primary Care Trust if the complaint is about a GP, dentist, pharmacist, optometrist, or primary care or community nursing staff.

All complaints should be resolved promptly. Anyone who makes a complaint in writing should receive a full and prompt written reply from the appropriate Chief Executive within four weeks for complaints about NHS Trust services, and within two weeks for complaints about primary care services.
If the individual is not satisfied with the outcome of the Local Resolution, then they can ask the NHS Trust or the Primary Care Trust to consider taking the complaint to Independent Review. This should be done within four weeks of the date of the letter on the outcome of the Local Resolution. The request is considered by a trained member of the Trust Board, known as the convener. The convener can ask for additional information and they will contact an independent lay person to consider the case. The complaint might be referred back to Local Resolution or the convener could decide to establish an Independent Review of the complaint by a special panel. A panel investigation will be set up only if it is likely to resolve the problems identified in the complaint. The convener should make the decision on setting up a panel within four weeks, and the convener decides on the matters the panel will investigate.

The panel will have three people, an independent lay person acting as the Chair, the convener and one other person. The panel will fully re-examine the concerns referred to it by the convener, talking to everyone involved, and getting any specialist advice it needs. It then prepares a report based on its investigations and findings and may make comments and suggestions. The complainant is given a copy of the report, and the Chief Executive will write to the complainant to let them know about any action being taken as a result of the panel’s recommendations.

More detailed information can be found on www.doh.gov.uk/complaints/howtocomplain.htm

If the complainant is still dissatisfied after the NHS complaints procedure has been completed, they can ask the Health Service Commissioner (Ombudsman) to investigate the case. The Ombudsman will only look at a complaint if it has been through local NHS complaints procedures. She can also look at how well the complaints procedure is working. She cannot consider legal issues. She does not have to investigate every case put to her.

The Ombudsman can be contacted at:
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
London,
SW1P 4QP
Enquiry Line on 0845 015 4033 or 020 7217 4051
www.ombudsman.org.uk/hse

Changes from Summer 2004

The Department of Health has launched a consultation on the draft regulatory framework that will underpin a reformed NHS complaints procedure. The new procedure aims to make it easier to complain, improve liaison between services, be more independent and generally improve the current procedure. The Department welcomes comments from anyone who has an interest in improving the complaints procedure. The formal consultation period will run from 1 January until 31 March 2004.

The proposal is available on www.doh.gov.uk/makingthingsright

This information was produced by Sally Young, Regional Manager for the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH)

Tel: (0191) 4484300 sally.young@cppih.org

County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	University Hospital of North Durham	Sylvia Nelson	0191 333 2323
	Bishop Auckland General Hospital and Darlington Memorial Hospital	Mary Roberts	01388 455880
County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust	Mental health, learning disability, substance misuse	Sharon Mohammad	0191 333 3520
North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust	Patient transport services, emergency ambulance Services and NHS Direct	Simon Richardson	0800 032 0202
Darlington PCT	Community health services, GP, dental, optician, pharmacy services	Sandra Guy/Yvonne Harrison	0800 783 5774
Derwentside PCT	"	Pamela Gwynn	01207 214244
Durham and Chester-le-Street PCT	"	Linzi Quinn	0191 3011336
Durham Dales PCT	"	Katharine Humby	01388 458835 ext. 136
Easington PCT	"	Katrina Bage	0191 5545723
Sedgefield PCT	"	Kathleen Sheehan	0800 3289155

Attachments

 Complaints in the National Health Service - 29th March.dot