Your experiences of making a complaint at Salisbury District Hospital
Download (PDF 578.16 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Wiltshire worked with the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust to gather views on their complaint handling process. They spoke to 31 people.
People found it difficult to find information about how to make a complaint. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) was not always recognised, or its function fully understood. There was a lack of signposting to additional support, such as advocacy services.
People didn’t feel they were kept properly informed of the complaints process. Timelines were not always adhered to, and updates not provided systematically. People sometimes found that staff were reluctant to take ownership of their complaint, particularly when different departments/staff were involved.
People felt that having more open conversations would improve their overall experience of making a complaint. Complainants felt disempowered and that any progress on their complaint was controlled by the Trust.
People thought that points or questions were not properly addressed in the Trust’s final response, made at the end of the complaints process. People felt they could not challenge decisions made by the Trust unless they reopened the complaints process .
Apologies for failings were not felt to be meaningful or sincere. People were not confident that the outcome of their complaint would help to drive improvements.
The results of the feedback show a need for the complaints handling process to be improved. The report includes ten recommendations about improving complaints handling processes and there is a response from the provider committing to implement them.
Healthwatch Wiltshire will revisit this project later in 2023 to see what progress has been made with the introduction of a new Complaints Handling Policy at the Trust, which is due to be launched in April 2023.