University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust: patient experiences of PALS complaints services
Download (PDF 425.34 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Plymouth wanted to take forward the findings of Healthwatch England's 2020 report on complaints. They held conversations with the PALS manager at University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) in late 2022 to see how they could collaboratively work with them. Healthwatch agreed to interview individuals who had been through the complaints process and had agreed to be contacted via phone. They spoke to 22 people.
Key findings
- Complainants felt that the process was not timely;
- They did not feel involved in the process;
- Individuals felt that their complaint was not always fully understood and subsequently the response was incomplete;
- They were unsure if, or were not confident that, the Trust had learnt from their experience.
- When people had good experiences it was because they felt engaged from the start, there was a meeting to discuss the issues in detail, they were kept informed on progress, they felt the investigation was thorough and the Trust understood the issues and was learning from them.
The report has four recommendations and a response from the provider.