This month the Ombudsman’s findings highlight the importance of public bodies managing service user expectations, ensuring all involved have a clear understanding of the service being provided
We published decision reports from 15 complaints investigated by the Ombudsman. Seven of these were about the Health sector, five about Local Government, and three about Joint Health and Social Care. The outcome of these 15 complaints were:
- Fully upheld: 8
- Some upheld: 2
- Not upheld: 5
Recommendations and feedback
We made 30 recommendations to public bodies. 14 of these were about steps public bodies could take to learn and improve from the complaint. One recommended a public body conduct an audit into staff compliance following a failure to complete documentation around a patient's communication preference. A further four recommendations were about how complaints handling could be improved.
A common theme of these recommendations was ensuring that service users are kept well informed, with any changes to the expected provision being clearly communicated and explanations given. This is particularly important in a health care setting, where involving patients in decision making and gaining informed consent is paramount.
We also highlight several recommendations that emphasise the importance of person-centred complaint handling. The complainant should be at the heart of the process with complaint responses demonstrating empathy and recognition of the complainant's situation and the impact this has had on them. Our guidance on meaningful apologies can be found on our website and discusses the difference between an apology and an expression of empathy.
All our published decision reports can be read in full on our website.