Annual Report and Accounts - The Great Western Hospital

3.24 Complaints Handling
For the Trust to continue to improve its’ services we need to continue to actively gather, listen and
act upon feedback from patients and service users. In seeking feedback we are able to assure
ourselves whether the services we are providing meet the needs of those who use them. Where
we fall short of the high standards we aspire to, we look to make changes to the way we deliver
care. This journey of continual improvement means that we are always looking at ways we can
deliver a better service for people now and in the future.
Within the Trust there is a dedicated team responsible for leading on all aspects of patient
experience, working with the clinical directorates to support improvements and respond to
feedback. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is led by the Head of Patient Experience
and Director of Nursing and Midwifery. PALS is at the forefront of gaining feedback and being a
point of contact for our patients and their carers to seek advice and give their views.
The Trust’s strategic objectives incorporate three elements that feed directly into patient
experience:
- To improve the patient and carer experience of every aspect of the service and care that we
deliver.
- To ensure that staff are proud to work at GWH and would recommend the Trust as a place
to work, or to receive treatment.
- To work in partnership with others so that we provide seamless care for patients.
The vast majority of patients who use Trust services have a positive experience. They are cared
for by caring staff, using the best technology, with treatment by skilled and dedicated
professionals. With over 540,000 patient interactions a year, unfortunately there is a small number
that are dissatisfied with their care or treatment. Whilst the number is small, the emphasis we place
on them is big, so that we can learn how to do things better.
A proactive approach is taken to handling any concerns and complaints. The Head of Patient
Experience and Director of Nursing and Midwifery liaise with patients who have raised multiple
concerns and complaints with the Trust. These patients are invited into the Trust to tell us about
their experience and give us the opportunity to discuss the work that we are doing.
To provide a more visible service to patients and the public, the PALS office moved into a
refurbished and extended office in January 2012 situated close to the main entrance to the Great
Western Hospital (GWH). This extension created two meeting rooms, one informal room and one
formal room for holding complaint meetings. The Trust was successful in a One Swindon bid, a
scheme to raise the visibility of the Police within public services and encourage joint working. The
scheme contributed towards the cost of the PALS extension and the Police are actively using PALS
as a base when they are on site.
Demonstrating how patient experience is a key focus for the senior management of the Trust,
during 2011/12 the Patient Experience Report increased to monthly instead of quarterly. This
increase in reporting gives the Directorate management and Executive Team a more frequent
measure of patient satisfaction and enables monitoring of service improvements. Since the end of
the year a ’patient story’ has been included detailing the experience of an individual patient from the
previous month. This has been put in place to allow the Executive to look beyond the numbers and
the written feedback to truly reflect on individual experience – the good and the bad. This is
providing a useful way to share lessons learned in one directorate across the rest of the
organisation.
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