As a follow up to the recommendations made within a 2015 report, senior staff at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust recently invited Healthwatch Isle of Wight to revisit St Mary’s Hospital to look at whether the changes implemented are having a positive impact on the patient experience of raising a complaint.
Back in 2015 Healthwatch Isle of Wight found that complaints procedures at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust needed large scale improvements. This mirrored the findings of the Care Quality Commission in 2014.
A report compiled results from a survey, an evaluation of the Trust’s website and procedures and enter and view visits that focused on the accessibility of the complaints procedure to members of the public.
As a result of the recent visit by Healthwatch Enter and View Authorised Representatives, a new report has now been published. Healthwatch found that complaints posters and leaflets are now displayed much more widely throughout the hospital than on the previous visit and that the language used is much clearer, although PALS literature is still difficult to understand.
Staff knowledge of the complaints procedures had remained fairly consistent with the previous visits which, according to Healthwatch, is disappointing considering additional training is said to have taken place. Staff have been found to be polite and friendly.
In response to the report the Isle of Wight NHS Trust have said:
“Thank you to Healthwatch IW for conducting a revisit of our complaints process and for producing the follow up report on ‘Complaints accessibility for IW residents’. It is important to us that patients and their relatives or carers are able to access a good service; the Enter and View visits give us good insight and understanding around patients experience of that service.
“We were pleased to see an improvement in their findings compared to Healthwatch’s previous report in 2015. We are aware that we still have work to do and we will ensure that the recommendations within the report are incorporated into our review of the complaints process. The literature and posters relating to PALs and complaints will be reconsidered and we will continue to provide training to staff in complaints handling so we have consistency across the Trust”.
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To view the full report and recommendations along with the full response from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, visit www.healthwatchisleofwight.co.uk.
