Complaints policy

Quality Framework
Key question 2: How good is our leadership?
Key question 3: How good is our staff team?
Key question 6: What is the overall capacity for improvement?

Quality Indicator
2.3. Leaders collaborate to support people
2.4. Staff are led well
3.2. Staff have the right knowledge, competence, and development to care for and support people
3.3. Staffing arrangements are right and staff work well together

Health and Social Care Standard
4.19 I benefit from a culture of continuous improvement, with the organisation having robust and transparent quality assurance processes.
4.20 I know how, and can be helped, to make a complaint or raise a concern about my care and support
4.4 I receive an apology if things go wrong with my care and support or my human rights are not respected, and the organisation takes responsibility for its actions.

Principles
Dignity and respect, Compassion, Be included, Responsive Care and Support, Wellbeing

1.1 Summary
Parklands takes all complaints and concerns seriously. The complaints procedure is specifically designed to check that the right procedures have been followed when providing the care and services our residents and their families expect. Many people find it difficult to make a complaint. Parklands recognises this and has tried to provide a clear, simple, and accessible process for making and handling. Parklands will handle all complaints efficiently and effectively with the aim of ensuring that a positive outcome is achieved for all concerned.

1.2 Compliance
This policy supports compliance with:

- The Health and Social Care Standards (2017)
- The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011
- The Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010)

Complaints
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by a person receiving care or support from our registered care services or from one or more members of the public about the care and/or support of an individual or individuals by our registered care services.

Procedure
The scope of the procedure applies to any complaint/concern received by any means (verbally, by telephone, email, letter or through info@parklandsgroup.com.

The scope does not cover staff and is not part of the Disciplinary Procedure. (see Grievances).

Stage 1 – Early Resolution (informal complaints/concerns)
If a person is not happy with the level of care, they or their family member/loved one is receiving we would encourage them to first speak to the care home manager. This is often the quickest way to resolve any issues.

An informal complaint/concern could be a small issue that could be resolved swiftly and easily. Every complaint is important to the person making it. The style, content and format should be easily understood by all parties.

All informal complaints/concerns are taken seriously, listened to, and acted upon immediately, or as soon as is reasonably possible.

The informal complaint must be recorded on the Comments, Compliments, Concern Form. This should be by a Manager, senior manager, or a senior member of staff, but must be done at the time.

The Quality Improvement Lead should be informed of all informal and formal complaints. The Quality Improvement Lead will notify the Operations Director of all formal complaints received.

The Manager, shift leader or person in charge should ensure the informal complaint or concern raised is, resolved and dealt with satisfactorily as soon possible. The person raising the issue should be informed of the outcome, verbally or in writing (whichever has been agreed). No further documentation should be required.

However, if the person who raised the concern or informal complaint wishes to discuss the outcome further, this should be arranged with the Care Home Manager, Quality Improvement Lead or Operations Director.

If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily for the person, for whatever reason, they can take this forward as a formal complaint directly with the home or through info@parklandsgroup.com and their concern will be documented using a Comments, Concerns, Complaints Form.

Stage 2 – Formal complaints
We take all complaints seriously.

Complaints can be made:

- In person
- By telephone
- In writing
- By email at info@parklandsgroup.com

Information about how to complain will be provided on admission and displayed within the home.

Residents will be supported to complain by an advocate, family member, or independent advocacy service (where these are available).

If the complaint is received in person or by telephone then a Comments, Concerns, Complaints Form will be completed by the person receiving the complaint. This is to ensure that there is always a written record of the complaint. The Quality Improvement Lead and Operations Director must be notified of all formal complaints at this time. All relevant documentation will be held in the manager’s office.

Parklands would always hope to deal with any complaints internally, however the person making the complaint should be informed at the outset that they can contact the Care Inspectorate directly at any stage by either:

- filling in their complaints form online
- calling them on 0345 600 9527 or
- by emailing them at concerns@careinspectorate.gov.scot

Each service will maintain a Comments, Concerns, Complaints Folder where records and correspondence relating to the complaint will be filed.

The file will be divided into months of the year.

It will state the date of the complaint, the name of the person making the complaint, the name of the person to whom the complaint was made, the action being taken to address the complaint, the name of the person who is undertaking the complaint investigation process and the outcome of the complaint investigation process.

The Comments, Concerns, Complaints folder will be stored in the home manager’s office.

The Quality Improvement Lead will contact the complainant by telephone or email to acknowledge and discuss the complaint ensuring we have understood the person’s complaint correctly. This should be carried out within three working days of the receipt of the complaint.

The Quality Improvement Lead will send out an acknowledgement letter to the person clarifying the points of the complaint for investigation and a timescale for the response.

The Quality Improvement Lead/Operations Director will decide who is best suited to investigate for impartiality and may allocate the investigation of the complaint to the senior management team or another manager.

The person investigating the complaint is responsible for the gathering and analysis of all relevant information and is responsible for ensuring that investigations are in line with good practice. Every effort will be made to bring the investigation to a swift resolution. We aim to complete complaint investigations within 14 working days, however this may, on occasions, take longer. The person investigating the complaint will keep the complainant informed of progress.

An investigation report will be completed by the person investigating the complaint, and sent to the Quality Improvement Lead who will review the investigation findings and decide on the course of action, normally within 7 days of receipt.

The person making the complaint will be contacted in writing by the Quality Improvement Lead with the outcome of the investigation and details of any required actions within 20 working days of receipt of the complaint. This may be longer depending on the complexity of the complaint and the nature of the investigation. Where this is the case, the Quality Improvement lead will let the person know if we think there will be a delay and give them the reasons.

Stage 3 - Complaint review
In the event you are dissatisfied with the complaint outcome you can request a complaint review which will be carried out by the Operations/Managing Director.

You need to apply to the Operations director/Managing director for a review within 28 days of receiving the outcome letter.

As part of the review the information gathered during the complaint process will be looked at and how the outcome was reached. This allows for a more thorough investigation if needed and potentially a different outcome. We will write to you with our decision.

Audit
A regular audit of all informal and formal complaints should be carried out by the Manager to ensure that all complaints have been dealt with in a timely manner and a satisfactory resolution achieved.

The Quality Improvement Lead will analyse trends and themes to identify learning and improvement opportunites. Learning from complaints will be shared with staff and incorporated into the services development plan and quality improvement plans.

Duty of Candour
The duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2018 which came into force on 1st April 2018 under the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016. Under this legislation we are expected to provide a duty of candour. The key principles are to provide honesty where an unintended or unexpected event has occurred resulting in death or harm. There will be emphasis on learning, change and improvement to avoid recurrence of the incident to someone else.

In summary we will:

- take all complaints seriously
- record all formal complaints on a Comments, Compliments, Concern form.
- inform the person making the complaint that they may refer the complaint to the Care Inspectorate at any time.
- keep an accurate record of formal complaints received and all relevant documentation in the complaints file.
- aim to complete the investigation and inform the person of an outcome within 20 working days. This may be longer depending on the complexity of the complaint and the nature of the investigation.
- let the person know if we think there will be a delay and give them reasons.
- let the person know the findings and the outcome of the complaint.
- review the complaint outcome in the event that the complainant is dissatisfied.
- ensure that any planned actions are followed through and risks of reoccurrence are reduced to a minimum.

References and key improvement resources
Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011
Health and Social Care Standards: My support, my life (PDF)
Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life (website)
A quality framework for care homes for adults and older people | Care Inspectorate Hub
Organisational duty of candour guidance
Learning from adverse events through reporting and review: A national framework for Scotland 2019