Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Paragraph: 21
The PHSO should also consider developing and reporting against timeliness targets for each grade of...
Recommendation
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 Summary
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 current queue of cases by recruiting and training new caseworkers.
Paragraph Reference:
21
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Service Charter provides a valuable source of feedback about people’s experiences of PHSO’s service. We are committed to improving people’s experience of PHSO’s service and, in turn, improving these three low-performing scores. However, as we advised the Committee at the oral evidence hearing on 14 December 2021, there are a number of different factors that influence complainants’ feedback, including whether PHSO reached the decision they were hoping for. As part of PHSO’s quality assurance of complaint handling, we look at how effectively we have evaluated all available evidence to make an impartial decision. This takes account Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2020–21: PHSO and Government responses 3 of whether we have gathered all the relevant evidence. It also considers whether we have carried out a sufficiently impartial, detailed, and critical analysis to reach a robust decision. We continue to train and develop new staff in order to maintain this consistently high level of impartiality and effective evaluation of evidence. We expect Service Charter scores in relation to timely decisions to improve as we reduce waiting times for cases to be allocated and also the time it takes to close cases. We have plans in place to continue reducing the current queue of cases in the coming year by recruiting and training new caseworkers, and by focusing resources on completing oldest cases first. We are also in the early stages of developing a significant new programme of casework improvements, including a new digital casework service that is automated, where possible, to improve efficiency while ensuring our service remains accessible and easy to use for all. Please also see our response to recommendations four and five, below.