Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Accepted
Paragraph: 13
Outline proposed steps to address service provision concerns for disabled and elderly complainants.
Conclusion
We have heard praise of the PHSO’s handling of casework, but we have also received evidence of concerns with some aspects of its service provision. The PHSO told us that it would reflect on the concerns about the service it provided to people with disabilities while outlining the measures it takes to meet the needs of complainants. In its response to this report, the PHSO should outline to us the steps it proposes to take to address the concerns we have heard in our written evidence, in particular in relation to service provision to people with disabilities and the elderly.
Government Response Summary
The PHSO committed to implementing disability awareness training for all staff in 2024-25, reviewing its house style and language guide for accessibility improvements, and leveraging its DDaT strategy to better understand and tailor services for disabled and elderly complainants.
Paragraph Reference:
13
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We are committed to providing a high quality, empathetic and timely service to everyone, including people with disabilities. Around 44% of the complainants surveyed by PHSO report that they have a disability. This is significantly above the population average of 17. 7%1 To accommodate the diverse needs of complainants, we offer a range of measures and reasonable adjustments, tailored to individual requirements. At the outset we ask everyone who contacts us how they would like us to communicate with them and we consider reasonable adjustments at this point. As standard, we have a BSL phone line, easy read translation, and braille. We also offer adjustments such as the provision of CDs or MP3 files with recordings for those that need them. In 2024–25, we are planning staff training for all PHSO staff on disability awareness, including learning disability and neurodiversity. This is with a view to enabling staff to recognise when these characteristics arise as a factor in a complaint and better understand the lived experience of individuals and families. stages of our complaints process. We are also reviewing our house style and language guide to help to improve the accessibility of our website and wider digital content. 1 Office for National Statistics, 2021 Census - proportion of population of England who reported that they were disabled. 4 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2022–23: Government and PHSO response The actions we will take through our long-term Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) strategy and the intended digital transformation could also help us to better understand the people that use our service (including the elderly and disabled) and continue to tailor accordingly. This will complement our outreach and public engagement work and will also inform future service improvements.