South West London CCG Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21

Addressing complaints during the pandemic In light of the impact of Covid-19 on NHS services, NHS England issued advice stating that the process for handling formal complaints should be paused between March and July 2020 to allow staff healthcare to concentrate on providing care to patients and responding to the challenges of the pandemic. During this time, we could only investigate and respond to complaints where urgent attention was needed. All other complaints were acknowledged and recorded and any potential patient safety actions were identified and implemented immediately, before being fully investigated and responded to. Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) Members of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) always listen carefully to the concerns raised by patients and their loved ones, and provide advice or make recommendations, where possible, as to the best way forward for the patient or member of the public. Whilst it is not always possible to resolve a concern to the service user’s satisfaction, the PALS team can give information about support services and voluntary organisations that may be able to help. We believe that a successful PALS service helps reduce anxiety for those who use our services and helps people navigate the health and care system, whilst also reducing the number of issues that go on to become formal complaints. Themes from PALS are escalated. The Complaints and PALS service also deal with a significant number of enquiries and informal concerns, from the public and MPs. During 202/21 there were 655 such contacts. The areas giving rise to most contacts were: Covid-19 (almost entirely relating to the roll out of the vaccine) 188 contacts Primary care (GPs, NHS dentists, community pharmacies) 66 contacts Other NHS organisations 51 contacts Assisted conception (eligibility criteria, can funding be transferred, freezing of eggs) 33 contacts General commissioning 29 contacts Mental health commissioning (access to services, availability and funding) 17 contacts Continuing healthcare (assessment for eligibility process, payment) 13 contacts Finance (payment of invoices) 12 contacts Compliments to the CCG 12 contacts Individual funding requests (requests for funding for treatment/medication not routinely provided on the NHS) 6 contacts Patient transport (facilitating transport when necessary) 5 contacts Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21 | 101