KO41(a) - Hospital & Community Health Services Complaints A guide to completing the collection using the Omnibus system Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved. 1
The NHS Information Centre is England s central, authoritative source of health and social care information. Acting as a hub for high quality, national, comparative data, we deliver information for local decision makers, to improve the quality and efficiency of care. www.ic.nhs.uk Author: The Health and Social Care Information Centre, Data Collections Team Version: 3.1 Date of Publication: March 2013 2 Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved.
Contents Background 4 Who should complete the return 4 Definition of Complaint Upheld 4 Guidelines 4 Completing the Form 6 Validating data 8 Contacts 9 Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved. 3
Background The information obtained from the KO41(a) collection monitors written Hospital & Community Health Services complaints (by service area, profession and type) received by the NHS each year. It also supports the NHS Plan commitment to improve the Patient Experience and will contribute to delivering the Improving Patients Experience PPF/2004 PSA (objective 4) targets. This information is published annually in a statistical bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at the following web address: Data on written complaints in the NHS - 2011-12 Who should complete the return The 2012/13 KO41(a) collection has been approved by the Review of Central Returns Steering Committee (ROCR) under reference ROCR/OR/0082/FT6/005MAND, which makes the return mandatory for all NHS Organisations receiving written complaints, including Foundation Trusts. Definition of Complaint Upheld If any or all of a complaint is well founded then it should be recorded as "upheld locally." Note: The Ombudsman adopts this principle in their adjudications. Guidelines 1) The KO41 (A) should be completed with information about written complaints about hospital and community health services made by, or on behalf of, patients in the period 1 st April to 31 st March. A written complaint is one that is made in writing to any member of Trust or PCT staff, or is originally made orally and subsequently recorded in writing. Once it is so recorded, it should be treated as though it was made in writing from the outset. Complaints and comments/suggestions that do not require investigation should not be included. 2) Complaints received during the previous year but carried over to the current year should be excluded. 3) Complaints forwarded to the Ombudsman are to be excluded because a complaint could span several reporting years and could corrupt data returns. 4) NHS Trusts and Primary Care Trusts should complete the KO41 (A) return as PCTs are responsible for handling complaints about the hospital and community health services they provide as well as complaints made to them about commissioning issues. NHS Trusts will make their own return about complaints dealt with by them. 5) If a communication contains more than one complaint that requires separate investigation then each should be recorded separately. However, where a single complaint covers several 4 Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved.
aspects of care/treatment received, the complaint should be recorded only once, under the principle cause of complaint. 6) If the complaint is transferred to another organisation, the organisation that deals with it should record it. 7) If the organisation investigates a complaint made about another organisation, the complaint should be recorded against the organisation being complained about and not the organisation conducting the investigation. 8) DO NOT INCLUDE investigations instigated by outside agencies, for example the Police, Health Service Commissioner or Coroners Court. 9) Data on the ethnic group of both complainant (this should always be about the complainant and not the person complaining on the patients behalf) and staff complained about (where a complaint is made about an individual as opposed to a service or administrative arrangements etc.) has been collected since April 2001. This information helps the Department of Health to begin developing a picture of the extent to whether ethnicity affects the likelihood of complaining or being complained about. Where information is not available every effort should be made to obtain it from either the complainant or staff member involved as appropriate. The ethnic groups listed in Parts 4 and 5 of this return are consistent with those set out in Data Set change notice 21/2000 CDS, HES & Workforce : Ethnic Data 10) Complaints regarding GP Out of Hours Services a) Complaints received regarding GP practices who provide out of Hours services (OOHs) under the new General Medical Services (GMS) contract should NOT be recorded on the KO41(A) return. b) Where PCTs directly employ doctors (or others) to provide OOHs then these complaints should be recorded on the KO41 (A) under the service area Other community health services c) Where a PCT commissions the OOH service from an independent provider, e.g. Primecare, then complaints made to the PCT should NOT be recorded on the KO41(A) return. They should be submitted on the KO41(B) (General Practice health services) return Local resolution (LR) is the first stage of the complaints procedure when front-line staff should aim to provide the fullest possible opportunity for investigation and resolution of the complaint, as quickly as is sensible in the circumstances This collection will be made available via a web based collection tool called Omnibus Survey. Links and login details for the tool will be sent to you by email once the collection has been launched. If you have not received these details yet please contact us at surveyteam@ic.nhs.uk The form contains validations and it is important that the sums of the different parts correspond. Further information on the current NHS complaints procedures can be obtained from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/309/contents/made Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved. 5
Completing the Form Access the collection form through the Omnibus web address provided in the original data request email. Data can be entered directly onto the collection form or the blank form can be downloaded and then once completed can be uploaded onto the Omnibus system. Please refer to the hyperlink below for further details Omnibus Guidance Download/Upload Feature The form consists of 4 parts. Part 1 The number of complaints received and upheld within the period 1st April to 31 st March by service area. Service Area Hospital acute services: Inpatient Hospital acute services: Outpatient Hospital acute services: A & E Elderly (geriatric) services Mental health services Maternity services Ambulance services Community hospital services NHS Direct Walk in centres Other community health services PCT commissioning Definition Admitted specialist management/patient care provided by a consultant, midwife or nurse Attendance at a clinic session provided by a consultant or his team Consultant-led activity with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of accident and emergency patients Care of older people (by a specialist or his team) Care of the mentally ill (by a psychiatric specialist or his team) Care of patients during pregnancy including provision of antenatal and post-natal services, as well as care following miscarriage Hospital provided transport services staffed by trained ambulance staff Care provided in a community setting, which may not include accident and emergency facilities Telephone (and online) advice and information services with access to nursing staff Provision of healthcare advice and treatment for minor illnesses/injuries at drop-in centres Community based care, provided by a pharmacist, named nurse or multidisciplinary team Purchasing of services on a contract for patients in an area covered by a particular Primary Care Trust The figures entered for line 99 (totals) should equal the sum of the column. 6 Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved.
Part 2 Record the total number of written complaints received and the total number upheld during the year for each category of profession listed. The final Other option should be used for any complaint which has not been specified elsewhere in Part 2. Please record complaints against teams e.g. mental health team in the Other option. The figures entered for line 99 (totals) should equal the sum of the column. Please note that the Total number of written complaints received and the Total number of written complaints upheld in line 99 must equal the Total number of written complaints received and the Total number of written complaints upheld entered in line 99 in Part 4. Please refer to the table below for definitions of profession. Profession Medical (including surgical) Dental (including surgical) Professions supplementary to medicine Nursing, midwifery and health visiting Scientific, technical and professional Ambulance crews (including paramedics) Maintenance and ancillary staff PCT administrative staff/members (exe GP admin) Trust administrative staff/members Other Definition Medical specialities (including surgical subspecialities) Dental specialities (including surgical sub-specialities) Allied Health Professionals (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, chiropodists/podiatrists, dieticians, prosthetists and orthotists, art, drama and music therapists (arts therapists) radiographers (diagnostic and therapeutic) orthoptists and paramedics ) Care provided by nurses, midwives and health visitors Services provided by scientists, technicians and professional advisors and support staff Services provided by ambulance crews (including trained paramedics) Workmen, cleaners, porters, catering staff Primary Care Trust employed staff(not general practice based staff) Hospital trust staff Other Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved. 7
Part 3 Record the total number of written complaints received and the total number upheld during the year for each subject category listed. The final Other option should be used for anything which has not been specified elsewhere in Part 3. The figures entered for line 99 (totals) should equal the sum of the column. Part 4 The comment section is there for you to provide and further clarification or remarks you may wish to make in reference to specific parts of the data supplied or more general comments which you may have Validating data The return contains built in validations which are activated when the Validate button is clicked in Omnibus Survey. This will bring up a list of validation queries, e.g. if a total does not add up to the individual rows. Please correct all errors and repeat the above process until there are no more validation errors remaining. 8 Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved.
Contacts For queries regarding the validation and submission of the return, please contact: Email: surveyteam@ic.nhs.uk For queries on definitions and General Practice (including Dental) complaints, please contact: Geoff Delissen 0113 254 5857 Or email: geoff.delissen@dh.gsi.gov.uk Thank you for completing this collection Copyright 2013, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved. 9
Published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre Part of the Government Statistical Service For further information: www.ic.nhs.uk 0845 300 6016 enquiries@ic.nhs.uk Copyright 2013 The Health and Social Care Information Centre, Omnibus Survey & Development Team. All rights reserved. This work remains the sole and exclusive property of the Health and Social Care Information Centre and may only be reproduced where there is explicit reference to the ownership of the Health and Social Care Information Centre. This work may be re-used by NHS and government organisations without permission. This work is subject to the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations and permission for commercial use must be obtained from the copyright holder. Copyright 2009, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. All Rights Reserved.