A recent report by the national audit office found one in seven people using the NHS were dissatisfied with the service. The majority did not make a formal complaint. The report states that many people did not bother complaining because the process is ‘time consuming, complex and ultimately futile’.
Is it worth complaining about public sector services? Will anything be done as a result? Most people who do complain simply want an apology or an explanation they are not looking for compensation or for staff to be disciplined.
Complaints tend to fall into two categories those about indifferent, unhelpful, uncaring staff and those about the system which often seems to make no sense and be designed to frustrate.
Front line staff be they doctors, nurses, social workers or housing officers are often equally frustrated by the system. They are sympathetic but convey the message it is beyond our control, it’s not our fault and complain if you want but I doubt it’ll make a difference. Managers have a tendency to focus on staff. If only people were better trained, if only we were better at recruiting the right people, if only it was easier to get rid of unsuitable staff, then things would be as they should be.
When I lost my bags at Gatwick Airport it was clear that this was not an isolated incident but a regular feature for those changing planes at Gatwick. Basically there is often simply not enough time to get bags off one flight and on to a connecting flight. A delayed flight incurs a large financial penalty for the air line consequently flights frequently take off without passengers’ baggage. Clearly this is the fault of the system. Individual complaints are unlikely to change the system. You can always fly with a difference airline and use a different airport.
It doesn’t work like this in the public sector. Of course you can go private for health, education and housing. My brother did. When both the toilets bowls were cracked ,broken and leaking their smelly contents on to the ward where he had been admitted with a server bowl problem he didn’t make a formal complaint in writing to the chief nursing officer he said ‘get me out of this hell’ and his wife with the help of the consultant did.
Sometimes complaining to the right person gets a quick fix. Before my father-in-law could leave hospital he had to wait for his drugs to come from the Pharmacy. He waited and waited but the ward couldn’t say when the drugs would come. After a couple of hours sitting on a hard seat in a drafty corridor my wife who had gone to collect him put him in a taxi and waited alone for the drugs. She waited most of the afternoon, checking at regular intervals with the ward staff if there was any indication when the drugs would arrive; there wasn’t. She offered to go down to the Pharmacy herself; she was told there was no point. Eventually even her patience was worn out. Being a senior manager herself she understood there was no point blasting off at the ward staff so she rang the hospital switchboard and insisted on speaking to the chief nursing officer. She explained the situation in a clam and reasonable voice resulting in a commitment to send the drugs by taxi to my father-in-law later that evening.
In both cases there were clearly problems with the system rather than the staff.
People would have more confidence in public sector complaints system if they thought complaints were treated seriously and resulted in changes to the system. All too often the impression given is if you make a fuss you’ll be viewed as a nuisance and if you make a formal complaint you’ll get a standard response, an empty apology and a vague commitment to raise the issue with the staff concerned.
It doesn’t have to be like this, one section of the public service is required to produce an annual complaints report detailing number and types of complaints, comparison with previous years and how complaints were resolved, what lesions have been learnt and what changes to the system have been implemented as a result. The chief executive responsible for councils who operate social services is required to present this annual complaints report to the board/cabinet. Most local authorities have extended the scope of these reports to include compliments and suggestions so this does not have to be a negative exercise.
The annual report can be linked with customer satisfaction surveys so for example if there was a rise in complaints about home helps an in depth customer satisfaction survey could be carried out to establish if this reflected a general dissatisfaction and deterioration in the service or an increase confidence in the complaints system or a problem with a particular provider.
It is worth complaining if public services use complaints to change things.