Recommendation 3

The Committee recognises that the PHSO has made significant efforts to cope with the huge pressures placed on its services as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We note that the backlog of cases has been reduced significantly and welcome the ambition to completely clear the queue of unallocated cases by the end of the 2022–23 business year. Equally, we are encouraged by the ambitions of the casework improvement programme and implementing the end-to-end review of casework processes to drive efficiencies and improve service quality. However, whilst we cannot generalise from individuals’ experiences with the PHSO’s service, there were a number of pieces of written evidence received by the Committee during this inquiry highlighting that perceived poor handling of cases remains a significant concern from service users. This includes details of lengthy investigations, poor communication by complaint handlers, sudden change of caseworker mid-investigation, loss of records, and issues with the complexity of the complaints process. The changes resulting from the end-to-end review of casework process, including changes to complaint forms, while positive, are relatively minor compared to the scale of these perceived issues. (Paragraph 33) Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2021–22 35