Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Accepted in Part
Outline departments adopting PHSO Complaint Standards and present plan for full implementation
Recommendation
We reiterate the recommendation from our previous report that the Cabinet Office should strongly encourage Government departments and public bodies to sign up to the Government Complaint Standards. In its response to this report, the Government should outline how many departments and public bodies have now signed up to the PHSO Complaint Standards, and set out its plan and timetable to introduce these Standards across all departments and public bodies. (Paragraph 69) 30 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2022–23
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees to strongly encourage departments to adopt the Complaint Standards, noting early adopters, but rejects mandating their use across all organisations due to their diversity, preferring a flexible approach.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
In March 2023, we published our evaluation report on our pilot of the NHS Complaint Standards. The pilot saw us work with 11 NHS organisations and one private provider to explore how best to embed the Standards in their work. By the end of the pilot, over 70 Early Adopters had also joined the programme. By piloting the materials, we have shown that the NHS Complaint Standards in practice can help organisations to deliver good complaint-handling. Since the start of 2023 we have offered a suite of training resources and guidance to NHS complaint teams, with take-up exceeding expectations. By April 2024, over 1,248 NHS learners had registered on our learning platform and over 720 people from 145 NHS organisations had completed our Continuing Professional Development training courses. In March 2023, following the successful launch of our NHS Complaint Standards, we launched the UK Central Government Complaint Standards, alongside a set of supporting materials including a four-step plan to help organisations embed the Standards. journey to embed the Standards, to ensure that the materials work in practice for all sizes/ configurations of organisation. Their feedback has been very positive in terms of how 12 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2022–23: Government and PHSO response helpful the Standards and the supporting materials have been in helping them improve the way they deal with complaints. The trailblazers are currently completing their final feedback reports. We are yet to deliver training to government departments. We are in the process of testing a draft iteration of the bespoke training we want to deliver. We expect to launch this by June 2024. We currently offer two different types of courses to NHS organisations: 1) ‘How to recognise and resolve complaints early’ (CPD certified) This is designed to help staff understand and resolve complaints quickly, and capture any learning to support improvements to their service. 2) ‘Taking a closer look – how to investigate and respond to complaints’ (CPD certified). This is a more in-depth course designed to train staff on how to handle and respond to complaints during the different stages of the casework process, including maintaining good records, identifying evidence, and providing a remedy. to do, we do welcome PACAC’s recommendation on the role for the Cabinet Office and agree that this has the potential to help drive improvements in the standards of complaint handling across government departments.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗