Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman 15 July 2020
- This report follows an invitation from the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs to explore the ‘state of local complaints handling’ across the NHS and UK Government departments. It draws upon interviews, a review of research reports including PHSO investigation reports.
- The research highlights three core weaknesses.
- There is no single vision for how staff are expected to handle and resolve complaints.
- Staff do not get consistent access to high quality complaints handling training
- Public bodies too often see complaints negatively, not as a learning tool that can be used to improve their service.
- The PHSO proposal is to create a Complaint Standards Framework which will provide a consistency and support to frontline staff, as well as assisting senior leaders to promote a positive culture of learning from complaints. It provides the basis for a central training platform for staff to give them the support and development they need, and to recognise that handling and resolving complaints is a professional skill.
