Follow the conference on X #NHSComplaints
This National Virtual Summit focuses on supporting staff to deliver good complaint handling and implementing and monitoring adherence to the PHSO National NHS Complaint Standards which are now being used and embedded across the NHS. Through national updates, practical case studies and in depth expert sessions the conference aims to improve the effectiveness of complaints handling within your service, and ensure that complaints are welcomed and lead to change and improvements in patient care. The conference will also reflect involving people and their families in complaints and integrating the process with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) to ensure patient safety actions and learning.
“We urgently need to build an NHS that prioritises accountability, transparency, and patient-centred care and which listens to and welcomes patients’ voices. “Complaints provide vital insight that can help drive improvements.”
Rebecca Hilsenrath, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman September 2024
“The Complaint Standards for NHS and UK central government organisations have been developed to give staff and leaders the skills they need to listen and act when people speak up. These standards emphasise the importance of learning from complaints, which can be a valuable source of insight and growth.”
Scott Laughton Freedom To Speak Up Guardian Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman 24 October 2024
“Inevitably, things can go wrong in a complex health system. However, our offices see too many incidents which have not been adequately investigated or acknowledged. We also observe how difficult it is for patients, families and staff to know where to turn when they have concerns and are forced to enter the complaints process to raise these. ..PHSO has invested heavily in improving the way that the NHS handles complaints through the NHS Complaint Standards. These standards, co-produced with the NHS, provide a practical framework, with a strong focus on early resolution by empowered and well-trained staff and robust feedback and accountability mechanisms to facilitate learning at all levels. All the signs are that these Standards have had a positive impact, and later this year a progress report will document this. However, and additionally, what is needed to realise the true potential of complaints is a fundamental shift in cultures across the NHS from a combative to a restorative approach…This change should include patient voice at executive and non-executive director level to ensure senior level oversight of all complaints. It should include senior management in the NHS proactively engaging with the Complaint Standards and taking proactive steps to embed a culture that learns from mistakes within heir organisations. We also need to see a shift in practice to proactively invite feedback and act on it, as well as to resolve complaints at the earliest possible point, with a focus on restorative practice and fixing systemic problems.”
Rob Behrens, former Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman & Henrietta Hughes Patient Safety Commissioner Thursday 8th February 2024
This conference will enable you to:
Network with colleagues who are working to improve complaints handling
Update your knowledge on the NHS Complaint Standards and how implementation can improve complaints handling
Understand how to manage complaints alongside the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)
Reflect on the perspective of a complainant who has been through the system to understand what person centred really means in practice
Learn how to bring kindness and compassion into complaints management, investigation, responses and learning
Understand what PHSO and the CQC look for in a good complaint response
Self assess your service against the NHS Complaint Standards
Improve the way complaints and investigations involving serious incidents are handled
Develop your skills in complex complaints handling including disputes, vexatious complainants and complaints across organisations
Understand how you can improve frontline resolution of complaints in real time
Develop your skills in de-escalation and conflict and dispute resolution
Support staff through the complaints process including inquests
Identify key strategies for ensuring change occurs as a result of complaints
Ensure you are up to date with the latest legal issues including ensuring adherence to the duty of candour
Self assess, reflect and expand your skills in complaints handling
Supports CPD professional development and acts as revalidation evidence. This course provides 5 Hrs training for CPD subject to peer group approval for revalidation purposes
