Complaints Committee Report
As a non-executive Director with the Ulster Community & Hospitals Trust and as Chair of the Complaints Committee. The following is an extract from the Annual Complaints Report which I presented at the January meeting of the Board of the Ulster Community & Hospitals Trust.
In presenting my report for 2004/5, I informed The Trust that there were 203 formal complaints which was a 23% reduction on last year’s figures. This figure must be set against the fact the services are provided to some 60,000 in patients and day cases and over 140,000 out patients. As well, 85,000 accident & emergency attendances took place. There were in excess of ¾ of a million contacts were made within the community. Although the complaint numbers are low, the Trust is in no way trivializing this and works consistently to keep these figures to a minimum.
Suggestions, comments, complaints and indeed the many thanks received from clients are welcome as they provide a necessary vehicle for improvements to be made. I think we all very much appreciate the fact that over 6000 letters of appreciation were received during the past year.
All complaints are acknowledged within 2 days and as with all good business practices the Trust strive to investigate and respond to complaints within the target of 20 working days. 72% of cases were dealt with in the time scale set. However the complexity of some complaints made that time scale not always possible.
Should someone feel unhappy with the outcome to their complaint, it is standard procedure that they will be offered an appointment to meet and discuss their problem. Of the 26% of complaints last year almost half agreed to meet while the remainder preferred a further written reply. The Trust is working closely with users to develop the complaints procedure and have developed a new leaflet which has been translated into 5 other languages.
I would wish to pay tribute to the staff whose efforts have enabled the Trust to achieve the exacting targets placed upon them. I am pleased that during the past year there have been a number of service improvements put into place indeed they highlight the ongoing benefits of an effective, listening, responding and caring service.
In presenting my report for 2004/5, I informed The Trust that there were 203 formal complaints which was a 23% reduction on last year’s figures. This figure must be set against the fact the services are provided to some 60,000 in patients and day cases and over 140,000 out patients. As well, 85,000 accident & emergency attendances took place. There were in excess of ¾ of a million contacts were made within the community. Although the complaint numbers are low, the Trust is in no way trivializing this and works consistently to keep these figures to a minimum.
Suggestions, comments, complaints and indeed the many thanks received from clients are welcome as they provide a necessary vehicle for improvements to be made. I think we all very much appreciate the fact that over 6000 letters of appreciation were received during the past year.
All complaints are acknowledged within 2 days and as with all good business practices the Trust strive to investigate and respond to complaints within the target of 20 working days. 72% of cases were dealt with in the time scale set. However the complexity of some complaints made that time scale not always possible.
Should someone feel unhappy with the outcome to their complaint, it is standard procedure that they will be offered an appointment to meet and discuss their problem. Of the 26% of complaints last year almost half agreed to meet while the remainder preferred a further written reply. The Trust is working closely with users to develop the complaints procedure and have developed a new leaflet which has been translated into 5 other languages.
I would wish to pay tribute to the staff whose efforts have enabled the Trust to achieve the exacting targets placed upon them. I am pleased that during the past year there have been a number of service improvements put into place indeed they highlight the ongoing benefits of an effective, listening, responding and caring service.
posted by Marion Smith at 10:59 AM
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