Safeguarding

Safeguarding Patients 133
No*
Page
no
Inquiry recommendation
Government response
Para
Comment
41 31 The roles of complaints officer and
PALS officer should be distinct.
42 31 The Department of Health should
introduce permanent arrangements for
the provision of independent advice for
mental health patients.
43 31 The Department of Health should be
responsible for ensuring a
standardised training programme for
PALS and NHS complaints staff.
As for previous recommendation.
7.7 Accept in principle. The majority
of ICAS advocates have now had
specialist training in mental health
issues.
5.13, 5.31 Accept in principle. Training
courses are already available and
the Department of Health is also
setting up a national network to
enable complaints staff, including
those in primary care, to share
best practice.
44 31 Those who are given the task of
responding and initiating any
investigation should themselves be
adequately trained, equipped with the
necessary skills to carry matters
forward, and of such seniority as to
ensure that barriers and resistance are
overcome.
45 31 The revised regulations should require
that all formal complaints should be
directed to designated complaints
managers in PCTs and NHS Trusts.
4.15, 4.18,
4.34, 5.10
5.20,
5.25–26
Accept. See previous
recommendation for training of
front-line complaints staff. For the
more complex investigations or
those involving more serious
allegations front-line NHS
organisations may wish to call on
additional resources such as the
multi-PCT agencies discussed at
para 4.34 of this response.
The Department of Health will
develop standards to ensure that
complaints, wherever they are
initially received, are speedily
routed to the most appropriate
organisation (and to the
complaints manager in that
organisation). See further on
recommendation 36 above. In
primary medical care, we propose
subject to consultation to allow
patients or their representative to
make complaints directly to the
PCT rather than to the GP
practice.
46 31 Formal complaints should be
interpreted as any matter which the
complainants would like to be treated
as formal.
5.8, 5.10 Accept. This is already the formal
position, but we will consider in
the wider review of the complaints
system how to promote greater
awareness.