The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) is today welcoming the publication of the Health Select Committee’s latest review into health complaints.

In its report ‘Complaints and Raising Concerns’ the Committee concludes that, while there has been good progress in complaint handling in the health and social care sector, there is still ‘significant scope’ for further improvement. The report also makes a number of recommendations on how complaints handling can be improved.

We welcome the Committee’s view that health and social care complaints should in the future be dealt with by one ombudsman, we also recognise that such complaints are often closely linked to other aspects of public service delivery, and particularly to local authority services. That is why alongside colleagues at the PHSO, we have been supporting the call for the creation of a single ombudsman for all public services in England.

The LGO has been working closely with partners at PHSO, CQC and Healthwatch England to improve the complaints handling process. Together we published the report, ‘My Expectations’, which sets out common sense, user-centred principles for good complaints handling, and we are pleased that the Committee supports this framework.

We hope all adult social care providers adopt and implement this framework, and commissioners incorporate it into their monitoring activities. We hope this will help people have a better experience when they raise concerns or complaints about their care and support.

Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:

“I am pleased that the Health Select Committee’s report has echoed much of what my colleagues and I have been calling for in the health and social care sector.

“I support the Committee’s view that commissioners have a key role to play in ensuring providers have effective mechanisms in place for dealing with, and learning from complaints.

“All too often in the complaints that I see, care commissioners believe they can delegate accountability for the care they commission. The approach we take to our investigations is that responsibility for the quality of care stays with the authority, regardless of the provider.”

In our role as the social care ombudsman, the Local Government Ombudsman provides the final stage of the care complaints process. Where a service user remains dissatisfied with the provider’s response to a complaint, we can conduct a free, fair and independent review of the matter.

We investigate complaints about care provided by all registered providers, whether it is public or privately funded, no matter how it is delivered. If we find fault we will recommend a remedy to put things right for the person who has complained. If we do not, we will bring the issue to a clear conclusion. And, in all cases, our enquiries, recommendations and remedies also aim to help prevent similar problems in future.

Article date: 21 January 2015