Adult secondary mental health services - quality standards: consultation

Annex C - Feedback and Complaints

A key priority in the standards is that you are able to give feedback on your experiences of engaging with mental health services and are supported to take action if you are not satisfied with your experience. This section contains information on your rights and the actions you can currently take.

The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 and supporting legislation, provides a specific right for people to make complaints, raise concerns, make comments and give feedback. The Act also places a duty on NHS Boards to thoroughly investigate and respond to any concerns raised, to take improvement actions where appropriate and to share learning from the views they receive. If you have concerns about your care or support, this should be addressed at a local level through the NHS complaints procedure. When that is not possible the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) is the second and final stage in the complaints process.

The SPSO is independent from the provider of healthcare and Ministers and looks into complaints about most organisations providing public services in Scotland. Their role is to give an independent and impartial decision on complaints. Once the SPSO have completed an investigation and made a decision, they will write to the person who brought the complaint, as well as the organisation involved, and give details of that decision. This will include details of any recommendations the SPSO have made to put things right, and the deadlines by which the organisation must carry out these recommendations. There is a rigorous review process in place to ensure that recommendations have been implemented by that time.

Advocacy

NHS Boards also have a duty to provide information on the advice and support services available for people who wish to make a complaint including providing contact details of the Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS).

The PASS service is free, confidential and independent and is delivered by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). The service can be accessed by;

• Visiting www.patientadvicescotland.org.uk ,
• Telephone: 0800 917 2127, or go to your Local Citizens Advice Bureau

This service has been set up to assist people who use services and their families in raising concerns and to help them understand their rights and responsibilities when using the health services.

Care Opinion Lines

You may also wish to consider sharing your experience of the NHS via Care Opinion. This is an independent website where patients, their carers or family members can tell other people about their experiences of the NHS. NHS Boards are alerted to stories posted about services in their area and are encouraged by the Scottish Government to respond. You can share your story online at Care Opinion by clicking this link: Care Opinion or by telephone 0800 122 3135.

NHS Inform

In addition NHS Inform contains further information on patient's rights and the complaints and feedback process, this can be found by following this link: NHS Inform.