Assistant Director of Strategy and Partnerships
In April, we held a drop-in event at Portcullis House so MPs and their staff could meet with PHSO colleagues, learn more about our role and find out more about the complaints process.
As the Ombudsman, we make final decisions on complaints about UK Central Government departments and the NHS in England. This means our work is closely linked with the work MPs and their staff do in listening to the concerns of their constituents and advising on how to resolve those.
Helping more people use our service
Strengthening our partnerships with MPs will help support this crucial work and help more people use our service.
Our outdated legislation requires people who have a complaint about a Government department or related public body to ask their MP to refer it us. This is why it is important that we work closer to support MPs and their staff to make that as easy as possible.
Listening to people’s concerns
The MP event was a huge success. We were able have really engaging conversations on a wide range of issues, including concerns that constituents have about having their voices heard in local areas. We explained how the Ombudsman may be able to help.
MPs and their staff were keen for us to attend their local constituency surgeries. This means we’ll be able to hear those concerns first hand and provide hands-on advice and signposting where we can.
They also invited us to attend MP staff seminars to explain more about how we work and what support we can offer MPs and their constituents.
Next steps
Following the event, we’ve started setting up meetings and constituency visits in these areas. We will share more details about when and where you can meet us when these take place.
This is just the beginning. We’re planning more MP drop-in events in the coming year, so we can continuously strengthen those relationships and help resolve issues of concern for members of the public.
