National Care Service - complaints co-design: findings summary

Evidence review of good practice in complaints handling

We have looked at research on complaints handling for examples of good practice and suggestions we can use to develop the NCS complaints service.

The evidence we used was taken from research and reporting from:

• health care
• social care
• government processes
• wider public sector services

The good practice suggestions are based on common themes we found in the evidence of problems and possible solutions.

We found it is good practice to make it easy to complain. To achieve this, complaints systems should be:

• well publicised
• easy to navigate
• have clear contact methods

The research also found:

• evidence across different sectors suggests advocates can help people use complaints processes
• advocates can be particularly helpful for people with accessibility needs and those who find the process daunting
• transparency and communication is important, such as keeping people updated during the complaints process
• it is good practice for complaints to be used to improve services
• senior leaders can support change by viewing complaints positively and as opportunities for improvement
• complaints can be stressful for the staff involved so they should be supported during the process, and when reflecting on learning
• it is important to think about how complaints data can be collected and shared across services in a way that allows for good analysis and supports improvement
• telling positive stories of how complaints have led to changes can help build people’s trust in the complaints process