Archived decisions

The Annual Report of the Complaints and Customer Care Service

2004 - 2005

Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Complaints and Customer Care Process

3. Independent Persons

4. Social Services Staff

5. Other Procedures

6. Statistics

7. Outcomes and Learning

8. Other Aspects of the Service

9. Discussion and Conclusion

1 Introduction

1.1 The National Health Service and Community Care Act (1990) and the Children Act (1989) require social services departments to produce an annual report of the operation of the complaints procedure The Department of Health guidelines for this report state that the report should include a summary of statistical information and a review of the effectiveness of the procedure, to be presented to the relevant Members' Committee of the County Council.

1.2 This report covers all complaints and referrals received by the Complaints and Customer Care Service in the former Social Services department, but this year the analysis has been separated to reflect the two new departments, Adult Services and Children Services, although in the latter refers only to the social care function.

1.3 The customers of the operational part of the service are service users and their carers. However, the service also supports staff, not only in dealing with complaints but by managing both the department's response to violence and abuse to staff and `Speak Out', the process by which staff can report bad practice. Finally the service has a responsibility for co-ordinating the investigation of untoward incidents across the department and ensuring that investigations are completed in a timely and appropriate way and that recommendations are followed through.

1.4 This range of activities means that the Complaints and Customer Care Service is uniquely placed to collect a wide range of information about when services may not have met the expectations of service users or the standards required by the department and to use this information to improve the quality of services.

1.5 Many complaints and expressions of concern reflect that people did not receive the service they expected, either because it was not of a good standard or, as is shown in some situations upon investigation, that the expectations themselves were unreasonable or unrealistic. However, the service is sent many compliments about the work of the department, often from people who are delighted by the service received and whose expectations have been exceeded.

2 The Complaints and Customer Care Process

2.1 All service users and people caring for those using our services should know how to voice a compliment, complaint or concern. Three new complaints leaflets were introduced in Spring 2005, one for general use, another `Easier to Read' versions and finally a version aimed specifically for children and young people. Consultation took place with a number of services users in designing the leaflets to ensure that they were `user friendly' and made the process more accessible to service users.

2.2 The wide availability of information about how to contact the Complaints and Customer Care Service means that people use the telephone number given not only to make complaints but also to seek help or advice. Such requests may also be received by letter or using the comments form. Whenever possible such requests will be dealt with promptly, either by advising the person of action they can take, signposting to the appropriate service and on occasion making a referral to our own services for additional help.

2.3 Following the receipt of a complaint or concern the contact is logged and a file opened. The file will remain open until the matter is resolved. What happens next will be guided to a large extent by what outcome the person making the contact is looking for. If it is a relatively straightforward matter it may be dealt with straightaway. Matters which are more complex and will require further investigation to resolve are acknowledged and will be forwarded to the appropriate manager to prepare a response, or in some situations agreement will be reached that the complaints and customer care service will deal with the matter. Sometimes a combination of both immediate action and a more detailed response are needed.

2.4 The introduction of SWIFT has had a significant impact on the ability of the Complaints and Customer Care Service to respond quickly and appropriately to complaints. The ability to access file information means that an over-view of the situation can be gained very quickly and appropriate action taken, whether that be directing the complaint or concern to the appropriate person or responding immediately.

2.5 Some of the matters brought to the attention of the Complaints and Customer Care Service are most appropriately dealt with using creative problem solving techniques, either at Headquarters or locally. `Complaints' can be `problems' in a different guise and can be resolved by resolving the problem. For example, if a person calls to complain that their care manager is on leave and they can not get any help, it is relatively straightforward to ask another person from the appropriate team to contact the caller. Other solutions may be a little more complex and involve a degree of mediation. For example, it may be better to arrange for a re-assessment of a person's needs than to become engaged in a protracted discussion about the outcomes of an initial assessment.

2.6 There are complaints where mistakes have clearly been made and staff are encouraged to acknowledge these, with an apology and do what they can to put the matter right. The Local Government Ombudsman refers to the importance of `putting the complainant back to the position of where they were before the mistake was made' as a remedy for complaints. This is not always possible because of the individual circumstances, but is useful guidance when considering how to resolve the complaint.

2.7 Complaints also arise through miscommunication or because of false expectations and no-one may be at fault. People using our services often do so at a particularly stressful time in their lives and we should therefore anticipate that things which have been said are misheard or forgotten. When this does occur staff are encouraged to acknowledge that there has been a misunderstanding and apologise for the upset caused, at the same time as clarifying the situation in writing.

2.8 There are situations where face to face contact is the best way of resolving a complaint. Conciliation is particularly effective when a complainant becomes entrenched in a particular view point and staff hold an opposing view. If necessary, either an Independent Person or one of the Complaints and Customer Care staff can facilitate such a meeting or in some instances a series of meetings.

2.9 If a complaint cannot be resolved informally complainants have the right to take their complaint further. If they are `qualifying persons' under the relevant legislation (e.g. a service user or a parent/carer) they can request that the matter be investigated by an Independent Person under Stage 2 of the complaints procedure. The Independent Person will see the complainant, relevant staff and files as necessary before preparing a report. The initial meeting between the complainant and the Independent Person is important in that it is the complainant's opportunity to state clearly the complaints which are to be investigated and, as importantly, to state what outcomes they are looking for. This gives the Independent Person not only a framework for the investigation itself but a basis upon which to make recommendations which will help to resolve the complaint. There is an element of negotiation in this process and it may be necessary for the Independent Person to visit the complainant more than once.

2.10 The complaints officers will receive a draft copy of the report and carry out an initial `checking' to ensure that the conclusions are reasonable and based on a demonstrable evaluation of the evidence, and that any recommendations are realistic. All the parties concerned then have an opportunity to comment on the draft report before the Independent Person submits a final report which will state whether or not the complaints have been upheld and if appropriate, make recommendations. Any recommendations would be considered seriously by the Department but are not binding. They are responded to by the appropriate County Manager who will identify what actions will be taken following the investigation.

2.11 If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation they have the right to be heard by a Review Panel. The panel comprises of three people, one of whom may be an elected Member. The panel must be chaired by an Independent Person. The complainant attends the panel meeting and explains to the panel the causes of concern. The panel will then interview the staff involved and the Independent person who completed the investigation before preparing a report of their findings and making appropriate recommendations. The report and recommendations will be responded to by the Director.

2.12 If not satisfied with the outcome of the panel, the complainant may take the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman, who will decide on the basis of information from the department and the County Council whether or not to further investigate the complaint.

2.13 There are some people who wish to pursue a complaint who do not qualify for the social services procedure, for example, providers of services. In this instance the matter may be referred to the corporate complaints procedure. After the matter has been investigated through the corporate procedure the complainant may proceed to the Local Government Ombudsman. The role of the Local Government Ombudsman is to decide whether mal-administration has occurred, not to re-investigate the complaints.

3 Independent Persons

3.1 The Complaints and Customer Care Service maintains a panel of Independent Persons who can be called upon to carry out the formal investigation of complaints and to sit on or chair review panels. The Panel compromises people from a variety of backgrounds, such as social care, health and the police and the majority have either held senior posts in these organisations or have specialist knowledge or expertise.

3.2 In recent years the annual report has described a further role for Independent Persons, that of conciliators or mediators. This role has continued and Independent Persons have successfully acted as conciliators with regard to both the informal and formal complaints procedure. Independent persona have also taken on an additional role in acting as advocates for vulnerable service users. For example, an elderly man was awaiting discharge from hospital and wanted to return to the family home with a care package. His needs had been assessed in the hospital and he could have been supported at home by a care package. However his wife did not want him to return home and was seeking residential care and had enlisted the help of a charitable organisation in formulating a compliant about social services. An Independent Person acted as advocate for the man so that his wishes were made known, rather than as what was considered as an attempt by the department to save money.

3.3 The work undertaken by Independent Persons has continues to become more diverse, including carrying out investigations not related to the formal complaints procedure, and investigating personnel related matters.

3.4 Many of the Independent Persons who carry out work for Hampshire SSD's Complaints and Customer Care Service also carry out the similar work for Southampton and Portsmouth. There is regular liaison and information sharing between the three departments with regard to Independent Persons and an informal agreement that we adopt the same remuneration conditions.

4 Social Services Staff

4.1 The Complaints and Customer Care Service works with departmental staff in a number of different ways with regard to complaints:

¬ To request and monitor responses to complaints and recommendations from investigations and review panels.

¬ To train and advise staff in complaints handling and resolution

¬ To support staff who have been the subject of complaints.

4.2 The level of contact between operartional staff and the Complaints and Customer Care Service has been sustained over the last year. Operational staff are increasingly turning to the Complaints and Customer Care Service to advise or provide direct assistance in themanagement of individual complaints.

4.3 One of the factors which has strongly affected the relationship between the complaints and customer care service and operational staff is the major shift away from a `blame culture'. Individual staff do make mistakes and these are usually quickly acknowledged and remedial action taken both with regard to the service to the complainant and if necessary with regard to the supervision and training of the staff member. However, staff who have acted correctly can become the subject of the complaint because they are the known representative of the department. In such situations the direct worker needs support from their line manager, both directly and in way the complaint is managed.

4.4 For the Complaints and Customer Care Service to be effective in resolving complaints it is important that other staff are aware of their role and also have training and support available to aid effective local complaints handling.

4.5 Information about the complaints procedure is in all staff induction programmes. For staff who regularly deal with complaints as part of their work there is a half day course on `Complaints Awareness' which is part of the department's training calendar. The objectives of this course are to make staff aware of the complaints procedure in more detail and to identify and practice ways of dealing with complaints which will increase the likelihood of the complaint being resolved promptly and effectively. Last year four half day courses were given, facilitated by the Complaints and Customer Care Officers.

4.6 No two courses are exactly the same as the courses use examples relevant to the work of the participants. An important message given on courses is that many of the skills necessary to resolve complaints successfully are those which people use every day in social care practice, such as listening, problem solving and negotiation skills. Over the year the courses again received very positive feedback through the course evaluation forms.

5 Other Procedures

5.1 Whilst attempts will be made to resolve all complaints informally, not all complainants qualify to use the formal stages of the social services' complaints procedure. People who are providing a service to the department and whose complaint can not be resolved informally, for example, will be referred to the corporate complaints procedure.

5.2 There are also complaints which cannot be addressed through the formal procedure and which have to be addressed through another procedure, such as complaints about Child Protection Conferences which have to be dealt with through the Area Child Protection Complaints Procedure.

5.3 One area of complaint which can not be addressed through either the formal or informal procedure is when the matter is before the court. If the complaint is about legal action being taken by the department the complaints can not be considered. The defining question in deciding whether or not to consider such complaints is `Will the complainant have or have had the opportunity to make a challenge in court?' If the answer is `yes' then the complaint can not be considered. If the answer is `no' and the court proceedings have been completed the complaint can be considered. If the court proceedings have not been completed the complaint can be `put on hold' until proceedings have been finished.

5.4 Although complaints from people seeking significant financial compensation cannot be dealt with through the complaints procedure, there has been an increase in the work of the Complaints and Customer Care Service with regard to court actions against the department. This has come about because of the expertise developed by the service in dealing with complex and on occasion, historic complaints and hence the ability to advise the litigation section of the Chief Executive's Department.

6 Statistics

6.1 In the year from April 2004 to March 2005 there were 474 enquiries received at headquarters, this compares to 539 received for the same period the previous year and is a decrease of 12% on the previous year. (See Table 1 below) Of those received over the year 429 were complaints, or expressions of dissatisfaction with the service received, a decrease of 15.4% from the 507 complaints received at headquarters the previous year. As will be seen from the table the overall figures are very similar to those from 2002-2003.

6.2 Table 2 (below) shows the number of complaints relating to each client group. There was a 25% decrease in complaints relating to Children and Families. There was a 12% reduction in complaints relating to services for people with a learning disability and numerically small increases in services for older people, mental health services and those for people with a learning disability.

6.3 There are no discernable trends in the complaints raised.

6.4 The changes in the relationship between the person making the complaint and the service user are given in Table 3, (over) . As percentages of the total number of complaints the figures are very similar to the previous year. It is noticeable that there was a reduction from 130 to 100 complaints from M.P.s and Members.

6.5 There were no complaints that could not be resolved informally and for which formal investigations were held, compared to three the previous yearThis is the first time that there have been no Stage 2 investigations since the procedure was introduced in 1990 and is a reflection of the efforts made to effect informal resolution

6.6 Two Review Panels were held, both relating to complaints made in previous years. One involved a historic complaint made by a mother whose children has been freed for adoption in the early nineties. The second panel concerned the daughter of an elderly man who complained that social services did not make adequate plans for her father's discharge from hospital. Neither Review Panel overturned the findings of the Independent Investigation.

6.7 There were no racial incidents recorded.

6.8 87% of complaints have been acknowledged within 5 working days. This is a slight reduction from last years figure of 91% A small number of complaints can not be acknowledged as the source is unknown. Of the remainder either a full response has been made within ten days or the complaint has been received in the department on a certain date but has not been forwarded to the complaints office for several days.

6.9 The percentage of complaints fully responded to within 28 days has fallen from 84% to 76% this year. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that responses are within the 28 day period this may not be possible for a number of reasons, such as the time it may take to collect all the information particularly where the complaint is complex and spans services, or the absence through illness or holidays of key personnel. When it is not possible to respond fully within the time period the complainant will be informed of the delay and the reasons for it.

Costs

6.10 There are two budgets to cover the costs of the operation of the complaints procedure. The first is used primarily for paying the costs of Independent Persons and holding Review Panels and the second is a compensation budget.

6.11 The Review Panels cost £1301 and £1172 each, similar figures to the previous year.

6.12 There was two payments made from the Compensation Budget which was for £170 to replace a bath which had been damaged by OT equipment and £900 to the mother involved in the second review panel. The latter money was returned as the complainant considered it inadequate.

7 Outcomes and Learning

7.1 The outcomes sought by complainants usually involve one or more of the following:

¬ An apology

¬ An acknowledgement that something went wrong.

¬ The matter put right

¬ An explanation of what has happened

¬ The same thing not to happen to anyone else

7.2 Over the year there were no identifiable `issues' or themes which came to the fore. It did become evident that, through the use primarily of the Internet, that complainants were generally much better informed and would refer to legislation and national guidance as part of their complaints. This has caused difficulties in formulating responses where there is either an incomplete understanding if the legislation or where national policy statements have been made but have not been supported by the resources to implement at a local level.

7.3 Feedback from complaints is given in a number of different ways. From individual formal complaints the County Manager for the client group will be aware of the complaints and outcomes. Recommendation themselves may highlight learning and ways to improve practice and the implementation will be monitored by the Complaints and Cusdtomer Care Service. County Managers are also becoming involved in complex complaints at a much earlier stage and in some instances may take on responsibility for responding to the complainant. County Managers will also be alerted if an issue of concern arises, either on a number of unrelated occasions or if a matter of a serious nature occurs.

7.4 One of the complaints officers regularly attends the Lead Service Managers meeting and will draw to the attention of service managers matters of concern. This may be specifically related to the operation of the complaints procedure but may also relate to `themes' which have emerged or the sharing of good practice where positive intervention has resolved a complaint and the learning may be useful to others in a similar situation.

7.5 As from Aril 2005 the Complaints and Customer Care Service has been using a new bespoke complaints database, which will greatly enhance the service's ability to analyse complaints information.

8 Other Aspects of the Service

Vexatious or Abusive Complainants

8.1 Previous reports have identified the impact of vexatious and abusive complainants on the service. It is therefore satisfying to be able to report that the various strategies adopted for dealing with vexatious and abusive complainants have been effective in reducing their impact on the service itself and across the department.

8.2 In addition to the effective strategies there is an increased awareness of the role the complaints and customer care service can play, which has led to us being involved more quickly than previously, which in itself makes the situation much easier to manage as a coherent strategy can be put in place very quickly.

8.3 Guidance has been written to help staff deal with complaints made by Email - although the principles equally apply to all Email communication with members of the public.

8.4 Persistent and vexatious complainants will contact Members and the service has been active in being available to Members to explain situations and support them in their dealings with vexatious complainants.

Discussion and Conclusions

8.5 This report has highlighted both the operation of the complaints procedure within the Social Services Department and the diverse information which is available to the Complaints and Customer Care Service.

8.6 Although the focus of the work of the service has continued to move towards an emphasis on customer care rather than just complaints management, there are objectives for the service which it has not been possible to achieve over the last year.

8.7 There were significant changes due to take place to formal complaints procedures due to come into effect from April 2005, as proposed by the Department of Health, Department for Education and Skills and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. the proposed changes include:

· The Review Panel stage of the formal procedure to be removed from local procedures. CSCI to become responsible for reviewing complaints if complainant not satisfied after Independent Investigation

· Timescale for informal resolution to be reduced from 20 working days to 10 working days.

· Greater emphasis on resolution at informal stage through `problem solving'.

· The Complaints Manager to be responsible for monitoring all complaints received by any member of staff.

· Complaints can only be considered if made within one year of event which led to complaint.

8.8 However, the time of writing there is no indication of which of the these proposals will be adopted and the time scales for implementation.

8.9 The proposed changes will impact on how the complaints and customer care service is managed, the systems which will be necessary to support the process and the type and extent of training to staff.

8.10 Significant changes have been made to the management of the complaints procedure over the last few years. The next year will present a challenge in ensuring that the service further adapts to meet the changes imposed nationally whilst still retaining the ability to respond effectively to complainants and provide a high standard of customer care.