Southport & Ormskirk Hospital providing safe, clean and friendly care NHS Trust

Transcription

1 Southport & Ormskirk Hospital providing safe, clean and friendly care NHS Trust Complaints Report April 9 March Trustwide Formal Complaints /9 9/ Cumulative /9 Cumulative 9/ During 9-, 3 complaints were received within the Trust which is a reduction from the 59 received the previous year. One reason for the reduced number of complaints could be that patients, their relatives and/or carers have the opportunity to raise concerns with Matron through our Matron of the Day system. In addition, the Heads of Nursing are available to speak with patients and have been able to stop concerns from escalating into formal complaints by dealing directly with issues as they arise. Due to a change in the legislation around the NHS Complaints Procedure, introduced on 1 st April 9, we are no longer expected to reply to all complaints within 5 working days. It is recognised that the multi-faceted and complex complaints require longer ensuring a full investigation is completed. This paper outlines the numbers of complaints relative to the individual business units in the Trust and details developments to the complaints system that have taken place throughout the year and plans for the coming year. 1

2 Reasons for Complaint Complaints by Issue - All Complaints % % 7% 3% % 13% 13% % % Communication Nursing Care Medical Care Medication Food Attitude Temperature Cleanliness Infection Control Safeguarding Mental Health Lost Items Waiting Times Noise Delay/Failure to Diagnose Privacy & Dignity Confidentiality Learning Disability End of Life E & D The most frequent reasons for the complaints received in the Trust were Communication, Nursing and Medical Care, staff attitude and failure to diagnose. This pattern is repeated for all Clinical Business Units. Complaints by Business Unit No of Monthly Complaints by Business Unit 9/ Medical 9 Surgical 9 Specialist Services 9 Diagnostic & Support Deputy Chief Exec Capital & Facilities Nursing & Midwifery Strategy & Commerce Integrated Governance & Quality

3 This graph shows the numbers and time of receipt of complaints by Clinical Business Unit. The Medical Business Unit, in line with its size and complexity received the greatest number of complaints. (11) Medical Clinical Business Unit Summary Medical CBU No of Complaints by Month Medical 9 Medical 9 Cumulative Medicine /9 Cumulative Medicine 9/ 1 1 No of Cumulative Complaints Medical CBU Complaint Issues - 9/ 1% 3% Communication Nursing Care Medical Care Attitude 1% 15% Delay/Failure to Diagnose Other (inc 15 categories) 1% Since April 9, there have been 11 complaints made against this Division which is an increase to the received during the previous year. During the past year, the majority of cases against this Division have been around communication issues. In order to address this, the Trust have arranged for training DVDs to be prepared based upon the complaints received around communication. It is hoped that they can be used as a further training aid for medical and nursing staff. (This will be used throughout the Trust and not just for the staff within the Medical Division) 3

4 Clinical Care, both by medical and nursing staff, has resulted in a large number of complaints. The heading of Clinical Care covers a broad range of issues and is an umbrella term for a wide range of concerns. During the past year, this Division has responded to complaints in an average of 3 working days. Surgical Clinical Business Unit Summary Surgery CBU No of Complaints by Month 1 Surgical 9 Surgical 9 Cumulative Surgery /9 Cumulative Surgery 9/ Cumulative No of Complaints Surgical CBU Complaint Issues - 9/ Communication Nursing Care 5% 5% Medical Care 7% Attitude 5% 13% Waiting Times Delay/Failure to Diagnose Privacy & Dignity 7% Other (inc 13 categories) In the last year we received 1 complaints against this Division, a fall from 1 received in the previous year. The main area of complaint is communication closely followed by Clinical Care. The average response time for this Division is working days.

5 Specialist Services Clinical Business Unit No of Complaints by Month Specialist Services CBU Specialist Services 9 Specialist Services 9 Cumulative Specialist Services /9 Cumulative Specialist Services 9/ Cumulative No of Complaints Specialist Services CBU Complaint Issues - 9/ Communication 13% % Nursing Care Medical Care 7% Attitude 11% Delay/Failure to Diagnose 3% Other (inc 15 categories) Within this Division there were a total of 3 complaints received compared with the previous year. The main cause of complaints was in relation to Clinical Care although communication is noted to have a large number of cases also. The average response time within this Division is 1 working days. 5

6 Complaints Status Summary Spec Serv Diag & Supp Deputy Chief Exec Business Unit Capital & Fac Nursing & Midwife ry Strategy & Commerc e Integrate d Governan ce & Quality Med Surg Total No of Open Complaints No of Closed Complaints Total No of Complaints No of Outstanding Action Plans for Closed Complaints No of Open Complaints over 3 months old Date of Oldest Open Complaint Nov 9 5 Nov 9 9 Jan 19 Mar 19 Mar N/A N/A N/A N/A What has changed as a Result? What has changed as a result of the Complaints? 3% 3% 3% Further Training Change of Process 1% More Information Leaflets Increased Signage New Written Staff Guidance Staff % Guidelines Updated The Trust views the complaints process as an opportunity to make improvements to the way services are delivered. To this end it is important that we not only respond to the complaint but that we also let complainants know what action we are taking, how we will prevent a recurrence of the situation and what will be different as a result of their complaint.

7 During the year 9- we have introduced an Action Plan database which enables the Heads of Nursing in the individual Clinical Business Units to monitor completion of the action plans created within their areas. The main advantages of this are a comprehensive system to ensure completion and the ability to record and report all changes that have been made as a direct result of complaints. This will be further developed during the coming year commencing in April with the inclusion in the monthly report sent to the Quality Committee, of actions taken and lessons learnt as a result of complaints received. Complaints Review Panel As part of the internal monitoring and the Trust commitment to learning from complaints, there is a monthly Complaints Review Panel, chaired by a non-executive Director of the Trust, whose remit it is to review any cases where the complainant remains unhappy following the response from the Trust. Additionally the panel will also review any complaints / complainants thought to be / becoming vexatious or unreasonable and make decisions for regarding the withdrawal of the Trust in these cases. There is a focus each month upon one Clinical Business Unit and up to three complaints received in the previous three months will be selected, at random by the Chair, to be discussed in detail. The action plan produced as a result of the complaint and any wider lessons learnt are also incorporated into the discussion. The panel also received information of those complaints forwarded to the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and any subsequent reports. Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) During the past year, the office of the PHSO asked that the details of nine formal complaints be forwarded to them. Of these, the Trust was asked to provide a further written response in two of the cases (it should be pointed out that both cases had not informed the Trust they were unhappy with the initial response to their concerns and had instead approached to PHSO for further information). None of the cases were accepted by the PHSO for investigation under the second tier of the NHS Complaints Procedure. PALS Patient Advice and Liaison Service It is widely recognised that whilst some patients do not wish to make a formal complaint under the NHS Complaints Procedure, they do have valid concerns or queries. Any patient or relative that wishes to raise a concern can do so via the PALS service within the Trust. Each concern is logged and will be investigated as appropriate. The majority are often quickly resolved but anything which takes longer than one working day must be logged as a formal complaint under the NHS Complaints Procedure. During April 9 until March, the Trust received 1 PALs contacts (although it should be noted that up until November 9, not all speedily resolved concerns were logged as PALS contacts). 7

8 Throughout the year, the highest factor causing concern was out patient appointments. The issues range from appointments being cancelled or rearranged by the Trust, patients not being able to contact the appointments team and patients querying their appointment times or dates. As a result of the high number of calls received regarding the appointments system, a review was carried out by the Deputy Director of Performance. The system remains under review and will be continuously monitored. Compliments Since April 9 until end of March, the Trust received 37 compliments from patients and their relatives. Each letter of compliment is acknowledged and shared with the relevant area or ward. Work plan 11 The work plan for 11 continues work that has been commenced and will refine systems and processes introduced this year. This work will include: Commence categorisation of level of seriousness of complaints by Business Group Identify, record and report the numbers of complaints upheld/not upheld Consider arrangements for Complaints review Panel to review any complaints case over months old Further develop systems in relation to lessons learned and Actions Taken Develop systems for Audit of changes to demonstrate sustained change Develop Trust Expectations in relation to staff behaviour Further investment in Communications Skills Course Consider Training and Development opportunities in relation to Customer Care Develop Department / Ward Level Dashboards