Recommendation 10

The Committee is concerned by the fact that the PHSO has not met any of its targets for the overall section Service Charter scores in the 2021–22 financial year. The Committee had previously understood that the scores were expected to improve as waiting times for cases to be allocated and closed were reduced. However, during 36 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2021–22 the oral evidence session in November 2022, it was reiterated that the main driver of higher customer satisfaction is whether a case has been upheld regardless of the quality of customer service. If the latter is true, it is clear that the current mechanism for collecting customer feedback through the Service Charter is unsatisfactory.