Assistant Director of Strategy and Partnerships
The NHS Complaint Standards were launched in March 2021. Since then, 12 NHS organisations and 70 early adopters have helped us to rigorously test the Standards through our pilot scheme. In my earlier blog I explained why the pilot scheme was so valuable in revising the Standards.
The pilot has been a real success. NHS staff told us that the materials provide much needed support in the short-term and will help bring long-lasting change in the way organisations approach complaints.
Crucially, they said the Standards make a real positive difference to carrying out complaints work and do not negatively impact on their time. In fact, they help to speed things up, particularly given the emphasis on early resolution.
Clarity and consistency in complaint handling
NHS staff also said our guidance and training gave real clarity and consistency, which helps increase their capacity and skill in handling complaints. It also clearly set out how their organisations can use complaints insight to learn more about the impact of their services and areas for improvement.
We were particularly pleased to see the positive reaction to our guidance and training on early resolution. We will focus on rolling out this support to the wider NHS as we move forward.
Pilot sites also saw real benefit in the self-assessment guidance, with many telling us they will continue to use this as part of their annual appraisals. This will help embed the Standards in the NHS. It will also help organisations continuously strengthen their culture to welcome complaints and learn from them, using them as valuable feedback to improve services.
Next steps
Our next step is to roll out Complaint Standards materials and training across the wider NHS. When doing so, NHS staff can be confident that the Standards have been tried and tested with their peers.
We will also begin to refer to the Standards in our casework. This will focus on identifying good practice and how local complaints handling can be improved.
We are extremely grateful to all the pilot sites and early adopters for their involvement in this important work, particularly during a time of continued pressure as we came out of the pandemic.
Their feedback and participation was vital in helping us create practical and relevant materials that work in practice and can be flexed to meet different needs. It will help us reinforce the message that there is real value in handling complaints well for staff and for patients.
We will report on how organisations have found the Standards in their work at the end of the 2023-24 business year.
Read our report on the NHS Complaint Standards pilot.
