COMMENTS, COMPLIMENTS & COMPLAINTS

SHSC-CCC21

Scope of this policy

This Policy and Procedure applies to all areas of Shield Health & Social Care including all service users, staff, volunteers, trainees, and visitors.

This Policy covers:

  1. Service User Comments
  2. Service User Compliments
  3. Service User Complaints
  4. Complaint Reporting
  5. Complaint Handling and Control
  6. Unresolved Complaints
  7. Review of Complaints

Purpose

Shield Health and Social Care are committed to providing a high standard of service delivery to all our service users, to ensure that their experience of Shield Health & Social Care is a valued one.  Where either an issue of service, quality, availability or general environment problem does not meet the expectations or requirements of our service users a consistent or thorough response needs to be initiated with decisions/actions to prevent any re-occurrence.

This Policy and Procedure has been established to ensure that all service users comments, compliments and complaints are reported to a central point, monitored and recorded in a standard format and that all complaints if necessary will be investigated by the Director and Registered Manager who are responsible for closely monitoring and reviewing all complaints thoroughly to ensure a satisfactory conclusion is achieved.

The Service Manager is also responsible for producing an annual analysis of comments, compliments and complaints received to present to the Director and Registered Manager.

Policy Statement

Shield Health & Social Care believes that if a service user wishes to make a comment, compliment or register a complaint they should find it easy to do so.  It is Shield Health and Social Care’s policy to welcome comments, compliments and complaints and looks upon them as an opportunity to learn, adapt, improve and provide better services.  This policy is intended to ensure that comments, compliments and complaints are acknowledged, dealt with properly and are taken seriously.

At Shield Health and Social Care, we believe that failure to listen or acknowledge complaints will lead to an aggravation of problems, service users dissatisfaction and possible litigation.  Shield Health and Social Care supports the concept that complaints, if dealt with early, openly and honestly can be sorted between the complainant and Shield Health and Social Care.

The aim of this Policy is to ensure that its Comments, Compliments and Complaints Procedure is properly and effectively implemented and that service users feel confident that their comments, compliments and complaints are recognised, acknowledged, listened to and acted upon promptly and fairly where required and if appropriate.

  • Service users and their representatives are aware of how to make comments, compliments and complaints and that the Shield Health & Social Care provides easy access and opportunities to register these.
  • The Director and Registered Manager are responsible for the update and administration of the Procedure.
  • Every written complaint is acknowledged within 48 hours of receipt of the complaint and the investigation commenced within 5 working days.
  • All complaints are responded to by email or in writing by Shield Health and Social Care.
  • Comments and complaints are dealt with promptly, fairly, sensitively with due regard to the worry and upset that they can cause to both staff and service users.
  • All complaints are monitored quarterly and trends are analysed to identify areas for service improvement

Shield Health and Social Care have also produced a Service User Guide, which includes a section if a service user wanted to make a complaint and guides them through the whole process and explains their rights to complain, how to make a complaint, who can help you make a complaint, what support is available, what you should consider prior to making a complaint and what to do if you are not happy with the outcome.

Procedure

This Procedure describes the actions to be taken by Shield Health and Social Care when there are positive or negative views or improvement suggestions from service users or their representatives.

  1. 1. Service User Comments

Definition of a comment: a remark, observation or criticism that may require immediate action but does not require a full investigation.

Lets us know your thoughts on what we could do better. The Director and Registered Manager record the details of all comments received to a central Register and then allocated on to the relevant individual or department concerned so that they can look at how improvements can be made.

  1. 2. Service User Compliments

Lets us know when we are getting things right. Any compliment received is shared with the relevant departments and our employees.

If the compliment is about an individual staff member they are then informed by email and in writing by either the Registered Manager or Service Manager and a copy of the compliment and letter is stored within their Personnel File.

Compliments can help us share good practice and improve services.

  1. 3. Complaint Reporting

Definition of a Complaint: An expression of dissatisfaction, whether verbal or written, and whether justified or not and which requires further investigation

  • If we verbally receive a formal complaint, complete the SHSC-CCC21 form which can be accessible by clicking on the identified buttons on this page or simply clicking on the link above, please be sure to attach any supporting documentation.
  • If we receive a complaint through email or letter, please email the Registered Manager or Service Manager to inform them of the complaint and send the original documents within the internal mail facility provided.
  • Any employees receiving the complaint will report the complaint by email the day they receive it and forward any documentations by internal mail the same working day too.
  • All formal complaints should be forwarded to the Registered Manager and / or Service Manger using the following email format.
  • As a minimum requirement the email details should include :
1. Date of Complaint
2. Name, Address, Email address and Telephone Number of the complainant
3. Name of staff who is reporting the complaint
4. Brief overview of the nature of the complaint
5. The SHSC-CCC21 form must be completed and submitted.
  1. 4. Complaint Handling and Control
  • On receipt of the email or SHSC-CCC21 form long with any supporting documentations the Registered Manager will ask the Service Manager to review and complete appropriate sections of the SHSC-CCC21 form (if relevant) and then update the Complaints Register.  The Complaints Register is kept on the Shield Health and Social Care internal drive which can only be accessible by the authorised management team. Managers are reminded to check the following details when reviewing the complaint:
    • Date of Complaint
    • Area within site where complaint/issue occurred
    • Type of Complaint
    • Name of Complainant and contact details
  • Within the next working day of notification of the complaint the Service Service Manager will review the complaint and if necessary discuss with the Registered Manager and if necessary other relevant departments and will appoint someone to investigate the complaint fully and impartially.
  • An acknowledgement letter will be sent out within 48 hours from either the Registered Manager or Service Manager to the complainant acknowledging receipt of their complaint and informing them that an Investigation (if relevant) will be carried out.
  • If the complaint can be answered without further investigation the Registered Manager or the service Manager will respond to the complainant having discussed the issue if necessary with relevant departments and/or the Director.
  • The outcome of the investigation or response is logged on the Shield Health and Social Care Complaints Register and the complaint is closed after 7 days if no further correspondence received.
  1. 5. Unresolved Complaints
  • If, at any time the complainant is unhappy with an investigation of the complaint or the response, the complaint shall be referred to the Registered Manager or Service Manager in the first instance.
  • In the event that the complainant is still unhappy, the complaint will be passed directly to the Director for further investigation and review.  The Director acts as the final arbiter for any complaints received
  • All correspondence shall be attached to the original complaint.
  • A copy of the response letter will be sent to the relevant department or individuals.
  •  

6. Further steps

At any stage during the process, if you are not happy with the way the service is dealing with your complaint you can contact the Registered Manager at:

Shield Health and Social Care

49a Chapletown, Pudsey,

Leeds, LS28 7RZ

Tel: 0113 243 0344 Email: osman.suleman@shieldhsc.org

Once we have dealt with your complaint, if you are not happy with the outcome you can refer your complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and ask for it to be reviewed. The LGSCO provides a free independent service.

You can contact the Ombudsman at:

Tel: 0300 061 0614

Website: www.lgo.org.uk

NB: The LGSCO will not normally investigate a complaint until the provider has had an opportunity to respond and resolve matters.

Shield Health and Social Care services are registered with and regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC cannot get involved in individual complaints about providers, but is happy to receive information about services at any time.

You can contact the CQC at:

Care Quality Commission National Correspondence

Citygate

Gallowgate

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 4PA

Tel: 03000 616161

Web site: www.cqc.org.uk

  1. 7. Overview of Complaints
  • All service user complaints are subject to trend analysis and shall be measured by the Registered Manager and Service Manager on a quarterly basis and reported to the Director.
  • The Quality Management Review Committee review all complaints to ensure that any corrective and correction actions taken are appropriate and effective
  • The Registered Manager and the Service Manager review all complaints annually and report to the full Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
  • Further Steps, unhappy with the final result or outcome of the complaint, you may contact Ombudsman or Care Quality Commission National Correspondence.
SHSC-CCC21