Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
This year we bid farewell to our long-standing Ombudsman and our Chief Executive Officer, Sir Rob Behrens and Amanda Amroliwala. Given the extraordinary foundations they laid together, I was honoured to be appointed to succeed Amanda as Chief Executive Officer and to support Rob in his final year. Now, I look forward to leading the organisation as Ombudsman to build on Rob’s legacy in a year of profound change.
Improving public services
Our work is driven by a belief in the power of complaints. Complaints provide the opportunity to learn and to strengthen relationships between people and public services.
At no time in our recent history have we worked on an issue affecting as many individuals as in our investigation into communication of the rise in women’s State Pension age. This complex case, looking at the work of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), involved analysing thousands of pages of technical evidence over more than five years and involved teams working across the organisation.
We found failings in communication which affected how hundreds of thousands of women planned for their future. As the DWP had made clear that it did not accept our findings, we took the unprecedented step of laying the report in Parliament without first making recommendations to the Government.
Through broadcast media, Select Committee evidence and working with Parliamentary stakeholders, we focused on raising awareness of the need for Parliament to ensure urgent and appropriate compensation.
We’ve also produced a range of publications, drawing on the evidence of our casework to highlight systemic failings, especially where we see repeated errors. We published reports on avoidable death, ‘Do not attempt CPR’ orders and sepsis which all raised key concerns about an NHS culture which does not always listen with sufficient care to patients, families, and staff.
Engagement and outreach
We cannot work to improve public services unless we ourselves learn the same lessons. We are a learning organisation, and this year we have taken important steps in our own improvement journey. Our Public Engagement Advisory Group has started to feedback important reflections on how we carry out our casework. This dialogue with complainants and members of the public is going to help us develop a truly user-focused service.
We have also spent time in local communities in Bristol and Blackpool, hearing first-hand the challenges facing those they serve, and observing both good practice and gaps in how public services can support members of the public. All of this helps us to raise awareness of our service and grow our understanding of service users.
Looking towards the future
My aim is to use my time as Ombudsman to work with colleagues and stakeholders to encourage learning and listening to improve standards in public services. At a time of national focus on what has gone wrong in public services, from the Post Office and the Infected Blood Inquiry to NHS maternity services, I will work to support the development of an approach that listens to users and learns from their experience to improve.
I look forward to working with the new Government on its new priorities, using the insights we have from our casework and beyond to improve public services and help to build better relationships between people and the state.
I also welcome working with Gill Kilpatrick as Acting Chief Executive Officer, with Karl Banister, Deputy Ombudsman, and a reinvigorated Executive Team. I thank the Board for their constant support and all my colleagues at PHSO who constantly impress both me and complainants with their professionalism and compassion. I am so proud to be your Ombudsman and look forward to the challenges the next year may bring.
Read the full Annual report 2023 to 2024.
