Recommendations & Conclusions
20 items
1
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Accepted
The Committee notes the actions taken by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to ensure continuing services to the public in difficult and unprecedented circumstances throughout the pandemic. However, the Committee notes the substantial backlog which has developed as a result. Whilst action is being taken to reduce this, we …
Government response. The government states that since April 2021, they have focused PHSO’s resources on the more serious health complaints. Government will undertake a final review in autumn 2022 considering 18 months of data.
2
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Accepted in Part
The PHSO should more clearly notify visitors to its website which cases are not being considered under this new policy and further update the Committee on the review outlined to the Committee during the oral evidence session. The PHSO should also update the Committee on any prioritisation actions it is …
Government response. The government states they will look at whether they can provide more granular information on their website to give members of the public and MPs a more specific indication of how long it may take for their case to be …
3
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Accepted
The PHSO should also consider developing and reporting against timeliness targets for each grade of “severity of injustice” to better monitor the impact of the backlog on higher category cases in Levels 3 to 6.
Government response. The government states the Service Charter provides a valuable source of feedback about people’s experiences of PHSO’s service. The government claims they continue to train and develop new staff and that they have plans in place to continue reducing the …
4
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Accepted
The Committee notes that the PHSO has again struggled to reverse the trend of weaker feedback scores on some elements of its Service Charter performance areas. The Committee however also notes the need to clarify the wording of its Service Charter questions by providing additional context to PHSO users so …
Government response. The government will conduct a review of how PHSO obtains feedback from service users, including working with a research agency, reviewing the complainant survey, undertaking an internal review of quality standards, and using the Public and User Advisory Group.
5
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Accepted in Part
The PHSO should set out how it plans to take to address the three-long term, low performing scores relating to how evidence is gathered, how decisions are reached and how decisions are made in a timely final decision.
Government response. The PHSO has delivered and fulfilled 22 of the 25 recommendations of the Clinical Advice Review and are progressing the remaining three recommendations. They are carrying out a phased roll-out of the sharing of provisional view reports with clinical advisers …
6
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Acknowledged
The PHSO have improved the data output about their own performance in recent years, which the Committee applauds. Nevertheless, the Committee is of the view that even more open and transparent access to feedback data will enable external stakeholders to give an accurate judgement on the work of the PHSO. …
Government response. The government describes actions taken to strive for an inclusive colleague community through recruitment and training.
7
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Deferred
The Committee recommends that the PHSO learns from and implements best practice at the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman by publishing feedback scores about its service, split between those complainants who were happy with the result of their case and those who were not. This will allow for a …
Government response. The government is evaluating a six-month hybrid working pilot and will report on its evaluation in the autumn to set out working arrangements into the medium term.
8
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Acknowledged
Good staff retention ensures high standards and shows an engaged and happy workforce. Therefore, the Committee believes that it is in the PHSO’s benefit, and the benefit of the people it serves to improve staff engagement and aim for high staff retention. We welcome the PHSO’s commitment to engage more …
Government response. PHSO has commissioned a peer review to be carried out this year and is leading work with the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) to strengthen and promote peer review across the Ombudsman sector.
9
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Deferred
The Committee welcomes the career development pathways and accreditation scheme put in place within the organisation, but also encourages the PHSO to look at possible new development opportunities within the organisation to encourage staff retention and to ensure there is minimal loss to institutional knowledge.
Government response. The government endorses the Committee’s recommendation urging the Government to take legislative action to reform UK public service Ombudsman schemes. States that Victims bill will allow complaints directly to PHSO.
10
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Acknowledged
The Committee notes the progress that has been made to date in implementing the Donaldson Review and look forward to further updates on the implementation of the Review, including an update on the progress of the pilots into systematic investigations.
Government response. The government launched the PHSO’s Corporate Strategy for 2022–25 and will update the Committee on the implementation of the 2022–23 Business Plan at the next oral evidence hearing.
11
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
Prior to the next scrutiny session, the PHSO should update the Committee on progress against the implementation of the Donaldson Review, outlining how many areas remain outstanding and its proposed steps and timeline to address them. In this update, the PHSO should outline what actions it has taken to embed …
Government response. PHSO commissioned Sir Liam Donaldson and Sir Alex Allan in 2018 to review PHSO’s approach to using specialist clinical advice in casework. To date, PHSO has delivered and fulfilled 22 of the 25 recommendations of the Clinical Advice Review. We …
12
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Committee welcomes the progress of the PHSO’s commitment to a diverse workforce. We are pleased by the pledge of continuous improvement in this area and look forward to hearing about further progress in the coming years. (Paragraph 52) Value for money
Government response. As we start implementing PHSO’s new People Strategy, the focus is to strive for an inclusive colleague community. We have been integrating best practice into our recent recruitment drive. During 2021–22, 27.7% of appointed candidates were from Asian, Black, Mixed …
13
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The considerably different operating environment brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the PHSO to critically evaluate how it delivers its services. The Committee are pleased the PHSO is conducting a pilot to evaluate the implications of new working practices. The Committee will continue to monitor developments as the …
Government response. We have recently completed a six-month pilot, which required staff to come into the office a minimum of two days per week pro rata, to develop an evidence base for a longer-term hybrid model of working. We are currently evaluating …
14
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Committee notes the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s commitment to undertaking a peer review and its engagement with the HM Treasury value for money framework. Whilst the Committee recognises the PHSO’s open engagement on measuring its value for money, it remains unclear when its next peer review will be.
Government response. PHSO has commissioned a peer review to be carried out this year. As the panel is independent, the Chair–once appointed - will appoint the remaining members of the panel. The peer review will consider PHSO’s effectiveness including value for money. …
15
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Committee reiterates its previous call to undertake a peer review, and recommends that the PHSO do so as soon as possible and on a more regular basis to ensure continued value for money. (Paragraph 61) 28 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2020–21
Government response. PHSO has commissioned a peer review to be carried out this year. As the panel is independent, the Chair–once appointed - will appoint the remaining members of the panel. The peer review will consider PHSO’s effectiveness including value for money. …
16
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Committee reiterates its call for the Government to introduce legislation to reform the PHSO and start consulting with relevant stakeholders and the public, on a cross-party basis, to ensure the Bill be brought forward as soon as possible. It is now six years since the publication of the Draft …
Government response. I agree that Ombudsman reform is an important matter. The Government has a number of key priority areas for its legislative programme and as your report notes, wide-scale Ombudsman reform is not included at the current time. The Government continues …
17
Recommendation
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Government has to take the issue of Ombudsman reform seriously and provide legislative action. We urge the Government to set out a legislative timetable before the end of this year, and seek to deliver the necessary reforms before the end of this Parliament.
Government response. I agree that Ombudsman reform is an important matter. The Government has a number of key priority areas for its legislative programme and as your report notes, wide-scale Ombudsman reform is not included at the current time. The Government continues …
18
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The PHSO has outlined to the Committee evaluative criteria for the 2021–22 period and explained the delays to the launch of their new strategy. The Committee will continue to monitor the PHSO’s delivery against its 2022–25 corporate strategy. (Paragraph 74) Impact on other organisations
Government response. We formally launched PHSO’s Corporate Strategy for 2022–25 on 7 April 2022, and have been holding internal and external stakeholder events to communicate and engage on our plans. This followed a bridging plan during 2021–22, established in response to circumstances …
19
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Committee notes the strong progress the PHSO has made in delivering against this objective and informing discussions in the international Ombudsman community. The Committee looks forward to hearing of further progress in this area.
20
Conclusion
First Report - Parliamentary and Health…
The Committee welcomes the PHSO’s actions in developing a complaints standard for the NHS and government bodies. The Committee looks forward to seeing further updates on the progress of pilots. (Paragraph 81) Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2020–21 29 Priorities for scrutiny As in our previous report, this annex …