Complaints Management Policy
Policy Statement
Insta-Scan 4D Baby will encourage individuals to provide positive and negative feedback to the organisation to enable us to continually develop and improve our services. Any complaints raised will always be responded to appropriately and resolved where possible.
We are always keen to receive feedback from all Service Users, relatives, advocates, healthcare professionals, staff and those who come into contact with our service.
We operate a complaints procedure which we actively promote to our Service User to use and train our staff to support anyone to make a complaint and provide feedback on our service.
We will ensure that we deal with all complaints promptly and fairly, they will be fully investigated and where identified improvements will be made and appropriate reparation offered.
We ensure through the culture of our organisation and our policies and procedures no one will receive detrimental treatment for using the complaints procedure nor will anyone be treated less favourably.
All Insta-Scan 4D Baby Service Users will be provided with this complaints policy and procedure at the commencement of care. Where their care communication barriers such as language or sight impairments, then we will, so far as is practicable to do so, to supply a copy of this complaints policy and procedure in a format which is suitable for the individual.
If the nature of the complaint raises potential safeguarding issues regarding an individual by an Insta-Scan 4D Baby staff member or anyone else involved in the care of the individual then we will report this to the local safeguarding team in line with our safeguarding policy and procedure.
If anyone is unsatisfied with the results of their complaint after exhausting the complaint procedure then they can contact outside organisations.
In addition, by having a lean, open organisation we believe it is important:
For all staff to receive formal complaints and feed them into the complaints procedure.
For complainants to receive a rapid, open, conciliatory response which meets the needs of the complainant whilst being fair to staff.
For complaints to have a high profile within the Organisation.
For complaints to be used as a means of providing information to management in order that, where appropriate, services can be improved.
Purpose & Scope
Insta-Scan 4D Baby recognises the importance and value of an effective process of complaints handling as part of a comprehensive framework of quality improvement activity in accordance with the recent NHS regulatory review and line with the development and implementation of Clinical Governance.
Insta-Scan 4D Baby will ensure that the handling and consideration of complaints is auctioned appropriately, that the arrangements are in place to ensure complaints are dealt with speedily and efficiently.
That complainants are treated courteously and sympathetically and as far as possible involved in decisions about how their complaints are handled and considered.
This policy applies to all staff involved in the service provision on behalf of Insta-Scan 4D Baby, including those on temporary contracts and/or employed as subcontractors to Insta-Scan 4D Baby.
Organisational Responsibilities
Insta-Scan 4D Baby’s responsibilities in handling complaints are to:
Investigate complaints against the Organisation itself and the service it provides by local resolution or formal investigation as per the wishes of the complainant.
Provide support to all it’s staff at local resolution stage.
Co-operate with any investigation requested by the commissioning Trust if appropriate.
Co-operate with any investigation carried out by the Independent Review Panel or the Health Service Ombudsman.
Insta-Scan 4D Baby’s Registered Manager is ultimately responsible for the quality of the service delivery within the organisation and is responsible for responding in writing to all complaints and for ensuring lessons learned are implemented.
Should the complaint include in part or whole the Registered Manager, the Insta-Scan 4D Baby Clinical Lead will investigate on behalf of the Registered Manger and be involved concerning clinical related operational procedures where required.
The Registered Manager will receive reports at regular intervals detailing the cause of complaints and action taken to improve care/services.
Access to Health Records
Where copies or access to records is provided as a part of the resolution of a complaint, these will be provided promptly and free of any charge and supported with signed consent where required and delivered in accordance with GDPR.
Support for Staff
The receipt of a complaint can be an extremely stressful experience for any member of staff. The implication that in some way or shape the care that was provided has been perceived as being anything but of the highest quality can have a considerable impact on a person’s functioning.
Insta-Scan 4D Baby is committed to ensuring that all staff are supported during the complaints process by:
Ensuring fairness, openness and impartiality during complaints investigations.
Ensuring that all staff have an opportunity to comment on any responses made.
Accepting where something has gone wrong and apologise for it.
Equally, if the complaint is unfounded or incorrect fully support both our staff and the service or services questioned.
Ensure staff included in the complaint have additional training, should lack of knowledge, skills or expertise have contributed to the complaint and provision of relevant training to all staff to minimise risk of occurrence.
Monitoring and Reporting
The Registered Manager will produce an annual report detailing the number of complaints and causes with an analysis of the issues raised, recommendations to address the issues, actions taken as a result of the recommendations and evidence that the actions have been implemented.
In addition, an annual report will:
Specify the numbers of complaints received;
Identify the subject matter of those complaints;
Whether they upheld or not;
Whether referred to the Ombudsman;
A narrative of significant issues through the year.
Procedure
Stage One
Verbal or written complaints are taken very seriously and actioned in the same manner. If a complaint is received it is documented onto one of our complaint forms. This ensures that the date, time and information is stored correctly and recorded on file. All complaints should be addressed to the Registered Manager and will be forwarded to the Registered Manager if addressed to someone else within the company.
Written complaints should be addressed to-
Registered Manager
Insta-Scan 4D Baby
129, Burnley Road,
Padiham,
Burnley
BB12 8BA
Telephone: 07858 007344
Email: instascan4dbaby@outlook.com
Stage Two
If the complaint is made verbally to a clinic team member and they are able to resolve it immediately the complaint form will be completed with all verbally agreed actions to take place. It will then be submitted to the Registered Manager who will maintain the records of oral complaints. The Registered Manager may seek assurance from the complainant that the matter has been dealt with satisfactorily.
If the verbal complaint cannot be dealt with immediately because the team member taking the complaint is not competent to deal with the complaint or if the nature of the complaint is such that it cannot be dealt with immediately the complaint form will be completed with all the details and handed to the Registered Manager for resolution.
Stage Three
Written complaints and verbal complaints that cannot be dealt with immediately will be acknowledged within three working days of receipt.
Complaints will be investigated, and a written response will be given within 10 working days. The response will address the complaint raised and if possible, the proposed resolution.
If for any reason it will take more than 10 days to respond to the complaint the complainant will be informed of the reason why and given a new target date for a response.
It is hoped that all complaints will be dealt with using our policies and procedures to a satisfactory conclusion. If the complainant is satisfied with the way the complaint has been handled and the response which has been given the matter would then come to a close.
Stage Four
If the complainant is not satisfied with the result of the complaint, then we would advise them to contact the following-
Trading Standards
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/
Citizens Advice consumer helpline: 0808 223 1133