NHS England Customer Contact and Complaints

Transcription

1 NHS England Customer Contact and Complaints Annual Report June 2015 Publications Gateway Reference 03927

2 Foreword NHS England has the important responsibility of commissioning health and care services to improve health and well being and secure high quality care for the public and our patients. It is important that we understand what our patients and the public need, so that services meet their needs. Our Customer Contact service provides an invaluable direct link to patients who use our services and invaluable insight about what matters to our customers, and we value the time taken by patients and the public to provide us with feedback on the services we deliver and commission. This annual report provides information about the enquiries and complaints we have received, and highlights some of the positive action we have taken as a result of the feedback we have received. The NHS England Customer Contact Centre provides a central point of contact for people who require advice and support or want to offer feedback about the services we provide and commission. In our first two years, we have handled 380,000 contacts. As a relatively new organisation, we have continued to develop our contact handling arrangements. We have been carrying out regular customer satisfaction surveys and have recently implemented a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to improve our contact service and enable better analysis of customer concerns from the questions and complaints we receive. We look forward to receiving more customer feedback so we can continue to use that to improve services for everyone. In the meantime, I would like to thank the many thousands of people who contacted us in the last 12 months, to ask us questions, seek information, provide feedback or complain. Karen Wheeler National Director: Transformation and Corporate Operations June 2015

3 Introduction NHS England established a customer contact centre (CCC) service on the 1 st April 2013 to provide a single point of access into NHS England for patients and the public for complaints, enquiries and information requests. In the first year the service received over 180,000 contacts, rising to over 196,000 in 2014/15. Our customer contact centre is supported by many experts across the organisation who help provide responses to specialist questions and resolve complaints. Around 89% of contacts were General Enquiries, with 9% Complaints and the remaining 2% FOI requests. Our Customer Satisfaction Survey has shown variable levels of satisfaction with our service, although there were improvements in the most recent quarter s data. We are reviewing and broadening our approach to customer satisfaction surveys to give us greater data which we can use to target improvement in the right areas.

4 Contact volumes and response rates In 2014/15, we received over 196,000 contacts, up from around 180,000 in 2013/14. Telephone is the most common method for contacting the CCC (69% of all contacts). Complaints are generally received in writing, either by (57%) or traditional post (white mail) (8%). The proportion of e- mail contacts increased slightly over the year, as white mail declined. Our handling of telephone calls in Q1 was below target due to residual issues from 2013/14, but improved significantly in subsequent quarters as we focussed on investing in staff training and resourcing. Contact Volume and Associated KPI Measures, 2014/15 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2014/15 Contact Method Calls 27,102 30,743 31,463 30, , ,102 15,009 16,250 18,568 65,929 White Mail 2,640 2,506 2,667 2,308 10,121 Total 45,844 48,258 50,380 51, ,343 KPIs % of calls answered in 45 seconds (Target >95%) 37.0% 83.1% 89.7% 82.4% 72.5% % of calls abandoned (Target <5%) 22.1% 5.7% 3.8% 5.1% 9.3% Source: HSCIC

5 Headlines by contact type 2014/15 General enquiries We received 127,600 General Enquiries in 2014/15, up from 103,500 in 2013/14. 88% of enquiries were resolved within 3 working days, up from 85% the previous year. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests 3,036 Freedom of Information requests were received, up from 2,581 in 2013/14. 95% of requests were responded to within the target of 20 working days. Our performance in this area got better throughout 2013/14, and in 2014/15 the proportion of cases resolved on target remained consistently above 90%. Complaints We recorded 12,753 complaints in 2014/15, up from 9,134 which were officially recorded the previous year*. Around 80% of complaints were acknowledged within the target 3 days, and 57% resolved within the target 40 days**. Performance on both acknowledgement and resolution times improved throughout the year. * Official return is the national KO41 statistics. Figures not yet collated for this year at the time of going to press so 2 014/15 results may change. ** In Q4 2014/15 the target resolution time increased from 25 days to 40 days.

6 KPI performance Contact Volume and Associated KPI Measures, 2014/15 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2014/15 General Enquiries No. of Enquiries Received 30,633 27,688 33,800 35, ,557 % Resolved within 3 Days 85.2% 91.0% 92.3% 85.4% 88.4% FOI No. of FOI Received ,036 % Responded to within 20 Days 98.4% 94.0% 90.4% 97.6% 95.0% Complaints No. of Complaints Received 3,131 3,044 3,343 3,235 12,753 % Acknowledged within 3 Days 72.3% 79.2% 87.5% 79.8% 79.9% % Resolved within 25/40 Days % 37.9% 45.6% 64.1% 56.8% Average Response Time (Days) KPI target changed from 25 to 40 working days from Quarter 4, 2014/15. Annual figure based on new 40 days target.

7 Breakdown of complaints received by Area Team Area Registered Population (Apr 2015) No. of Complaints 2014/15 % of all Complaints 2013/ /15 Ratio of complaints to registered population % of all Complaints Ratio of complaints to registered population Arden, Herefordshire and Worcestershire 1,713, % 1 in % 1 in 6000 Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire 1,549, % 1 in % 1 in 7000 Birmingham and the Black Country 2,658, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 Bristol, N. Somerset, Somerset and S. Gloucs 1,529, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral 1,292, % 1 in % 1 in 7000 Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 2,004, % 1 in % 1 in 6000 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 2,076, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 1,738, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 Durham, Darlington and Tees 1,233, % 1 in % 1 in 8000 East Anglia 2,576, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 Essex 1,825, % 1 in % 1 in 3000 Greater Manchester 2,932, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 Hertfordshire and The South Midlands 2,901, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 Kent and Medway 1,819, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 Lancashire 1,524, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 Leicestershire and Lincolnshire 1,850, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 London (of which) 9,288,153 2, % 1 in % 1 in 3000 North East London - 1, % - 8.8% - North West London % - 5.6% - South London % - 6.2% - London Specialised % - 0.8% - Merseyside 1,270, % 1 in % 1 in 4000 North Yorkshire and Humber 1,705, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 Shropshire and Staffordshire 1,611, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw 1,524, % 1 in % 1 in 5000 Surrey and Sussex 2,872, % 1 in % 1 in 6000 Thames Valley 2,214, % 1 in % 1 in 8000 Wessex 2,817, % 1 in % 1 in 6000 West Yorkshire 2,477, % 1 in % 1 in 4000

8 Who contacted us? The majority of contacts came directly from members of the public (85%). NHS staff made up the second largest single group (6%), often making enquiries about NHS England or requesting information. A small percentage (1.4%) of contact was made from MPs/Parliament. Included in the Other group were journalists and people who did not wish to identify themselves.

9 Contact method All contacts Complaints Totals may not sum exactly to 100% due to rounding. Telephone was by far the most common method for contacting us in 2014/15, with 69% of all contacts received in this way. made up over a quarter of all contacts (28%). For complaints the pattern was quite different, with accounting for more than half of contacts (57%). Although white mail was still a small proportion of complaints (8%), that was double the proportion for all contacts.

10 Complaints by service area 2013/ /15 In 2014/15 the proportion of complaints that related to medical services increased to 64% from 57% the previous year. Complaints relating to dental services and GP administration remained stable.

11 Learning from complaints- Case studies NHS England uses feedback from complaints to improve the services we deliver or commission. Some case studies demonstrating changes we have made as a result of customer feedback are below; Improvement to access to Specialist Care Dentists for patients with learning difficulties The Urgent Care Dental Service received a complaint from a family member of an adult with learning disabilities. The family were concerned about how patients with learning disabilities were referred to specialist care and the time taken in receiving urgent treatment. Following the investigation of this complaint the Urgent Care Dental Service has now reviewed and amended its process when receiving calls. The call handlers now screen calls by checking clinical records to determine whether a patient requires special care and thereby booking appropriately with a Specialist Care Dentist. In addition to this a system has been put into place at the Clinic to ensure that when a patient attends an Urgent Care Clinic and cannot be treated, the patient is provided with priority access to treatment with a Special Care Dentist in a timeframe that is commensurate with the patient s clinical needs Identification and Treatment of Sepsis in Primary Care In response to a complaint a GP felt that they and their colleagues would benefit from a refresher session on the latest guidelines on Diagnosis of Sepsis in Primary Care. In addition to this training the practice are now carrying out an audit to review how well the practice is doing at recognising sepsis in the community. The practice has shared the anonymised data from this complaint with the Local Medical Committee so that this case scenario can be included in future GP Practice learning sets.

12 Learning from complaints- Case studies The role of the Primary Care Performance Advisory Group (PAG) and learning from complaints The role of the Performance Advisory Group is to consider all complaints or concerns that are reported about a named clinician and can determine if an initial investigation is to be carried out. As part of its complaints management process NHS England complaints teams refer specific complaints to the Group for consideration and investigation. In one case a complaint had been received in relation to the poor management of a case of menorrhagia. Following an investigation, the Performance Advisory Group upheld the complaint, making a number of recommendations which were accepted by the practice. These included: The practice was to consider adherence to published guidelines; The complaint was to be addressed in the GP s next appraisal; The practice was advised to ensure measures are in place to identify those patients who have not undergone investigations that have been ordered. Improving referral timescales and patient choice in gender re-assignment NHS England has received a number of concerns from patients who have experienced poor access to and long referral to treatment timescales in relation to gender reassignment. NHS England has taken some key learning from these complaints including confirming that gender reassignment surgery should fall under the 18 weeks Referral to Treatment timescale which historically it has not. Specifically, NHS England established a task group for gender identity services to determine the additional investment required to meet 18 weeks Referral to Treatment. A wider piece of work has been undertaken by specialised commissioning to try to improve access to gender reassignment surgery, this work continues. In one response to a complaint the specialised commissioning team who are responsible for commissioning gender reassignment services held a webcast of their most recent meeting and invited the complainant to observe the meeting to demonstrate how they are taking their work forward.

13 General enquiry themes The typical types of enquiries we receive are as follows: GP and Dentistry How do I locate and register with a local GP / dentist? I have a query regarding dental charges / referrals / treatment. I have been deregistered by my GP. Can you assist? I have been advised that I don t meet the criteria / funding is not available for a specific treatment. Can you help? Why is my GP not referring me for treatment? My GP has stopped / changed my medication? Can you help? NHS England Why have I not heard back about my question/complaint/foi? (Follow up/chase) How do I make a complaint? I have a question / require further information about something published on your website I have a comment / question regarding a recent statement made by your Chief Executive / a National Director I have recently seen a policy relating to #, please could I have further information/ comment on Signposting enquiries relating to CCGs, regional teams, HR departments/named NHS personnel. Note: ICT system cannot yet classify general enquiries by type summary of frequent categories is based on case officer feedback.

14 Freedom of information requests The most common themes of information requested from NHS England are: Contractual information Statistics Other Pharmacy applications Dental/Ophthalmic activity and contracts % of patients diagnosed with diseases and illnesses GP practice patient list sizes HR structure/organograms/team hierarchy information Copies of correspondence between staff Copies of tender documents Patient safety incidents Information about senior NHS England employees Money spent on; mobile phones/telephones, expenses, ICT contracts and equipment Complaints information

15 Customer satisfaction results Satisfaction with Outcome Satisfaction with Resolution Duration The Customer Contact Centre conducts an ongoing satisfaction survey among a sample of our customers. Customers are asked about their experience of using the service, and some key results are shown here. Satisfaction with the outcome of the enquiry/complaint fell sharply at the start of the year, from around 60% in Q1 to less than 50% in Q2. The proportion increased in the second half of the year, but remained lower than the Q1 figure. This question is important, as satisfaction with the outcome may influence respondents other survey answers. Satisfaction with the length of time taken to resolve enquiries/complaints fell from nearly 70% in Q1 to around 55% in Q3. It recovered in Q4 to stand at around 60%.

16 Customer satisfaction results Likelihood to Recommend to Friends/Family As an overall measure of satisfaction with the service, customers are asked whether or not they would recommend it to friends or family with a similar issue. Again, satisfaction fell between Q1 and Q3, before recovering to around 66% in Q4. When asked in more detail about the reason for dissatisfaction with the service, over half of respondents said that they were unhappy with the outcome. However in Q3 this proportion actually fell, with increases instead in dissatisfaction about timeliness, communication, and other grievances against the NHS.

17 The next 12 months NHS England is making further changes to improve our handling of complaints and the quality of our responses. The new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will enable us to manage complaints and enquiries more effectively and also to learn from them more consistently. We also expect to: Implement a Quality Framework based on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman s My Expectations work which was published at the end of This should help improve the quality of complaints handling, shape our services and assess our performance against the expectations of complainants. Drive further improvements on performance especially around customer satisfaction and learning from complaints; Embed systematic learning and feedback from complaints to provide input into commissioning;