Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Deferred
Detail steps to improve PHSO scores for information gathering, decision explanation, and communication.
Recommendation
We welcome the PHSO’s actions following our previous recommendation, resulting in reforms to how it conducts its Service Charter survey and differentiating the data depending on the outcome of a complaint’s case. However, we remain concerned that these changes do not address the underlying problems revealed by missing the targets for the three KPIs, and by the persistently low scores related to gathering information, explaining decisions, and making and communicating the final decision to complainants in a timely fashion. The PHSO should set out in its response to this report the steps it is taking to drive continual improvement in its scores in these key areas. (Paragraph 36) Staff management and training
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response did not address steps to improve KPI scores related to information gathering and decision making. Instead, it focused on staff turnover figures and the review of its hybrid working policy, scheduled for summer 2024.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
service. Feedback is collected throughout the year via an online survey run by PHSO and through telephone surveys managed by an independent research company. Our Service Charter scores are steadily improving. In 2023–24, the time taken to close cases has improved across all three of our KPI measures (cases closed within 13/26/52 weeks). The queue reduction work also means that we can begin work on cases much sooner with cases now being allocated within 15–20 weeks (down from a peak of 65 weeks in September 2022). To help improve our Service Charter KPI on gathering information and evidence, we have delivered a series of workshops to our operations staff. This included delivering training for staff on how to identify gaps in casework evidence and the steps staff can take to address these issues. We are also reviewing how we write our decisions, in order to make these clearer and easier to understand. We have had input from our Public Engagement Advisory Group2 to help us understand their views on our investigation reports and improve the language and communication of our decisions. decision to complainants, we have taken steps to improve our casework processes so that we can reach decisions quicker and provide a quicker response to complainants. This has included introducing a new decision form for standard casework to improve efficiency in case handling and focus on making the right decision at the right time, alongside improvements to our Casework Management System. Following the last inquiry, the Committee asked us to prioritise completing a review of PHSO’s regular survey of complainant satisfaction. We have now changed the survey to give us a clearer picture of the experiences of people who use our service. This improves 2 This group comprises former complainants who we engage with on a regular basis to inform user-focused improvements to our service. 8 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2022–23: Government and PHSO response our understanding but will initially limit our ability to analyse trend data and comparing the results to previous years. However, we will be setting ourselves targets and establish strategies to achieve them in due course.
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