Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Deferred
Paragraph: 30
Publish criteria for reviewing the 'severity of injustice' approach to PHSO case management.
Recommendation
We reiterate the concerns we expressed in our 2021–22 report about the PHSO’s continuation of the ‘severity of injustice’ approach to case management which means certain cases are very unlikely to be resolved and are not subject to detailed investigation. This was introduced as a temporary measure during the pandemic. The PHSO have stated it intends to review its future approach when the backlog of cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been dealt with, with this likely to take place towards the end of the 2023/24 financial year. We reiterate the recommendation from our 2021–22 report that the PHSO should set out publicly the criteria it will use during the review to determine its future approach.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response did not address the recommendation to set out publicly the criteria for reviewing its 'severity of injustice' approach to case management. Instead, it detailed improvements to Service Charter scores, queue reduction, staff training, and complainant surveys.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
30
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
PHSO, like all other ombudsman services, receives a number of complaints that relate to very minor issues (e.g. a rude receptionist or a one-off complaint due to annoyance, frustration or inconvenience as opposed to prolonged distress, pain or devastation). It is important that cases of serious avoidable harm, death and serious financial distress are prioritised ahead of cases of minor grievances, annoyance and inconvenience. This is common practice in the ombudsman sector to ensure fair and effective use of public funds. complaints. Although this was put in place initially temporarily due to the pandemic and the subsequent backlog, the continued escalation in demand for our service means that this approach may have to be sustained for the near future. To enable us to operate as effectively as possible and deliver the greatest value for money, we are exploring a new ‘public value model’ which is being tested internally as part of our triage process. The model we are testing is broader than the current approach and considers additional factors alongside severity. Our objectives are to ensure that our resources are used to deliver greatest possible impact and to improve our abilities to predict and respond to demand for our service. The criteria we are currently testing are: • severity of injustice level of the case; • complainant’s individual needs and additional support requirements; • whether the complainant is from a group who don’t usually access our service, or are otherwise disadvantaged; • whether the wider public have shown an interest in this topic; and • whether the case is potentially systemic. Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2022–23: Government and PHSO response 7 of the public, former complainants, advocacy groups, and organisations we investigate. We will be reviewing the feedback from users, alongside the results from internal testing to reach a recommendation for a future model. We plan to report back to the Committee on these findings after the launch of the public value model and we would be happy to provide further information as required, given the importance of this approach to our work and the interest of the Committee.
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