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Training

Training is a fundamental requirement for developing and maintaining high standards and this applies equally to dealing with, and responding to NHS complaints as to any other aspect of NHS service provision. Many complaints managers feel that their role could sometimes be better defined within the organisation, and that there are a number of issues which could benefit from training. Linked to this are issues about support, and the relationship between complaints managers and the senior management of the organisation, such as the chief executive and the board. Finally there are a number of health, safety and welfare issues that may benefit from clarification.

Key competencies

This section identifies a number of good practice points based on the experience and knowledge of complaints managers currently working in a number of different NHS settings. Research has shown that the following competencies are the kind that complaints managers may find useful in their work. Whilst not in themselves constituting a person specification they might influence the construction of one. They may also facilitate decisions over training needs. They have been arranged in an order of priority:

Essential

  • Being confident and assertive, whilst demonstrating empathy and tact. These qualities can help command respect both from clients and the organisation
  • Possessing communication and interpersonal skills appropriate to different audiences, i.e. clients, senior management, staff, other agencies
  • Possessing listening and analytical skills - these can help enable complaints managers to better identify the essence of a client's problem, and ascertain potential risk factors
  • Having appropriate education and experience - whilst formal qualifications, along with an NHS background, may be helpful, life experience and 'people skills' can also be very important

Desirable

  • A working knowledge of the NHS - which may come from previous experience or from learning on the ground
  • Strategic and political awareness - in terms of being able to influence policies and change within the organisation, and in fostering constructive relationships with external organisations
  • The ability to be objective and take a dispassionate stance when necessary
  • Having an overview of clinical governance and its role in facilitating organisational learning

Useful

  • Experience of managing staff and budgets
  • Being thorough and persistent - the ability to see things through and not to let go of a problem until it is resolved
  • Possessing organisational management and negotiation skills

Training needs

Training is linked to key competencies, but may also include more specific needs, for example, addressing issues such as client consent and data protection. The following list comprises a number of areas that complaints managers have identified that may benefiting from training. Some of these are deemed to be core-training areas whilst others are seen as highly desirable.

Core

  • Client consent and data protection issues
  • Sector specific issues, i.e. complaints issues which may relate specifically to primary care, acute trusts, mental health trusts, etc
  • Customer care, including written and verbal communication, and general 'attitude' issues
  • NHS complaints procedures
  • Managing difficult and aggressive/violent people
  • Understanding cultural and diversity issues, i.e. ethnicity, age, gender, religion, disability, social exclusion
  • Good induction for complaints staff

Desirable

  • Investigative skills
  • Mediation/counselling skills
  • 'Training the trainer', i.e. training for managers who are responsible for training other staff within the organisation on complaints
  • Information technology (IT) issues, e.g. basic software packages, including setting up and using complaints databases (at present there are five different types of complaints databases on the market plus numerous 'in-house' systems designed in packages such as Microsoft Access)
  • Presentation skills

Support needs

Complaints management is a demanding and often highly stressful job. Although the right training and key competencies can help a manager cope with such an environment, research and experience suggests that additional input, in the form of personal and organisational support (including resource allocation) is also very important. Some types of support are seen as the responsibility of the organisation whilst others are viewed as being the responsibility of the individual complaints manager. Often they are a combination of both, in terms of an individual manager being proactive in identifying a support need and then looking to the organisation to address that need.

The following list of identified support needs is arranged in terms of:

Support primarily the responsibility of the organisation

  • Support of the chief executive
  • Stress type counselling - which may be accessible through Occupational Health services
  • Supervision - this can take a number of different forms including bringing in an external supervisor, and one-to-one supervision from line management
  • Expert advice, e.g. on legal issues
  • Interpreting and translation services, including sign language and Braille

Support primarily the responsibility of the individual complaints manager

  • Peer group support/networking

Support the responsibility of both organisation and complaints manager

  • Clinical, e.g. interpretation of records
  • Career and personal development
  • Regular one-to-one and team meetings
  • Protected training time - which is linked to having adequate staff cover

Interface with senior management

It is essential that complaints managers should have a strong working relationship with both the chief executive and the trust board. Although in some trusts this can be achieved on a personal level, it is important to ensure that the interface is built into the infrastructure of the organisation. The interface should also includes access, in terms of being able to see the chief executive or chair when necessary.

The following have been identified as key points for ensuring an effective interface. Some are statutory requirements, whilst others are considered best practice:

Statutory requirements

  • Ensuring there is a complaints 'champion' (usually the convenor) on the board, and identifying this person
  • Ensuring that the chief executive (or his or her stand-in) takes ownership of complaints, i.e. signing them off S
  • Presenting quarterly and annual reports to the board

Best practice

  • 'Knowing the board', both in terms of identifying the membership and establishing a dialogue with individuals
  • Ensuring that information from the chief executive and the board is disseminated to complaints managers
  • Being kept in the circle of those who 'need to know', i.e. in terms of strategic and operational issues affecting the organisation
  • Ensuring that the chief executive and board are kept informed of complaints issues
  • Encouraging chief executives to act on the recommendations of complaints managers
  • Ensuring access to the chief executive and board, including board presentation
  • Building trust between the chief executive (and board) and the complaints manager

Health, safety and welfare

Health, safety and welfare issues are underpinned by the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) along with a number of pieces of subsequent legislation (see the Links section). Although there are a number health and safety issues that relate specifically to complaints managers, it is the responsibility of everyone within the organisation to ensure a healthy and safe work environment.

The following points have been identified as essential for good practice:

  • Ensuring personal protection, e.g. access to panic buttons, mobile phones, having back up
  • Addressing environmental issues, e.g. location of interview rooms
  • Addressing health issues, e.g. using headsets instead of handheld receivers if taking calls over a prolonged period
  • Ensuring there are policies in place for working with difficult and aggressive clients
  • Addressing complaints within a zero tolerance environment. Managers should clarify how zero tolerance functions within their working environment
  • Ensuring there is support from the organisation over health, safety and welfare issues

Training programmes

Managing complaints for service improvement
A programme of accredited education and training to equip complaints managers and service managers to:

  • respond to complaints in an appropriate way
  • investigate and resolve complaints effectively
  • contribute the learning involved to organisations' clinical governance arrangement
  • operate effectively with a new complaints system that manages complaints about health and social care, and has a new relationship with claims management
  • pass on to others the requisite skills

Communications and customer care
The Department of Health has worked closely with NHSU, Universities UK, and the professional regulatory bodies to produce communications and customer care training programmes, and a corporate induction programme

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