Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Paragraph: 26
The Committee notes that the PHSO has again struggled to reverse the trend of weaker...
Recommendation
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 that they can better understand what the relevant scores mean in terms of service delivery.
Government Response Summary
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.
Paragraph Reference:
26
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Later in 2022–23, we will commence a review of how PHSO obtains feedback from service users on performance against the Service Charter commitments. This initiative will include: • working with an independent research agency to review historical data to understand why changes and improvements to PHSO’s service have not led to improved Service Charter scores; • asking the research agency to review the complainant survey and provide recommendations on how it can be improved; • undertaking an internal comparative review of PHSO’s Quality Standards approach and the complainant survey to identify where there is alignment and correlation between the two sets of feedback, where this is lacking and to identify if improvements can be made; and • using PHSO’s Public and User Advisory Group, once it is established later this year, to improve PHSO’s understanding of the reasons why service users have given positive or negative feedback. 4 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2020–21: PHSO and Government responses This work is in the early stages of planning. Although it is too early to be able to make specific commitments about what changes will result, it may include revisions to the wording of the complainant survey questions to remove any ambiguities. We recognise that disaggregating complainant survey results by the decision received would help us understand how the decision a complainant receives affects their experience of PHSO’s service. However, unlike the LGSCO, our survey covers all stages of PHSO’s process, including enquiries and complaints which are resolved very quickly, without an investigation. As decisions to uphold or not uphold a complaint are made only where a full investigation has been undertaken, the pool of complainants to survey at this stage is reduced. The methodology for PHSO’s survey differs from LGSCO’s in a number of other respects, so whilst it is a useful comparator in many ways, the LGSCO’s approach is not directly transferable to PHSO’s customer satisfaction survey. We will, however, consider the viability of the Committee’s recommendation with the support of the independent research agency. Staff management