COMPLAINTS AND PALS AT UCLH

Alison Glover - complaints

Sarah King - PALS

RESOLVING PATIENTS’ CONCERNS

Two teams working closely together and with trust departments to resolve patient concerns and improve services where necessary

PALS Role is to provide general advice on UCLH services, sometimes NHS

services/structure (referrals etc), and to resolve issues patients by liaising with the relevant clinical teams.

Focus is on speedy resolution of patients’ concerns

COMPLAINTS A formal process following complaints procedures laid down by the

Department of Health Explicit processes and targets including external independent review

by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman

COMPLAINT PROCESS

Complaint received (via e.g. CEO's Office, Trust website) Sent to central complaints team & assessed for risk / severity Registered on 'Datix' Sent to lead division for investigation (copied to others, eg CN) Telephone call to complainant to discuss complaint, approach to investigation & timescales Investigation conducted Response prepared Sent to central complaints team, quality checked CEO covering letter drafted & complaint sent to CEO for sign off

NUMBER AND TYPES OF COMPLAINTS AND CONCERNS

Pals handled 3,378 cases in 2013 and approximately 4,200 quick enquiries

665 formal complaints received in 2013

Types of concerns: Access issues Administration / letters Environment / food Attitudes Nursing / medical care Clinical outcome

HOW COMPLAINTS & CONCERNS ARE USED TO IMPROVE SERVICES

Focus is on improving services to ensure future patients do not have similar problems

Learning for individuals eg attitude / competency Subspecialty or departmental changes Capturing themes / triangulation of data Sharing learning across a division / the Trust

EXAMPLES OF SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS

The introduction of divisional Quality and Complaints Officers to act as first point of contact for PALS and Complaints

The option of 'no treatment' must be explicitly discussed and documented during the consent process – revised UCLH consent policy

Development of clinical guidelines e.g. use of analgesia in the Emergency Department

SERVICE IMPROVEMENT AT LOCAL LEVEL

Complaints about the latent phase of labour progressing more rapidly than expected after initial assessment

(It happens everywhere, and can result in “BBA” – birth before arrival!)

The action: A tighter management protocol The creation of “the Nest” – a place to sit it out in the

Maternity Care Unit

UCLH Charity and Friends of UCLH

Rachel Wilcox,Manager, PR and Discretionary

Funds

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in service improvement

Sameen Malik, Patient and Public Involvement Lead

What is PPI and why should we do it?

• Gives people a say in how we do things at UCLH

• It helps us to:

− Ensure services meet patient needs

− Identify areas for improvement

− Connect better to patients

− Monitor our progress

− Fulfil our legal requirement!

What improvements have we made from PPI?

It might not always be easy to make changes… but you may help us to identify things we hadn’t thought about that can really make a difference

Patient with visual impairment

Positive experience, but couldn’t

find their way to imaging

Route card to help patients find their way

Interviews revealed this was due to overhearing

conversations in the next bay

What improvements have we made from PPI?

Patients felt staff sometimes talked as if they weren’t there

Confidential warning sign on curtains was introduced

It might not always be easy to make changes… but you may help us to identify things we hadn’t thought about that can really make a difference

How can you get involved?

• Let us know of your areas of interest

− Tell us if you are happy to commit to something on-going or just as a one-off

• We will contact you when projects in your interest area come up

Sameen MalikRos Waring

Volunteers

Andrea Kennedy, volunteer and patient governor