1. Understanding and preventing unreasonable complaints
Caroline Kerby
Director of Strategic Development

2. Set up in 2006 to bring together general practices to work at population level
Providing 7 day a week care for in Brent North West London
Operates on a membership model with a central support function
Holds a range of contracts with NHS, Local Authority and other providers

3. What is a complaint?
“Statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable”
“Pot of gold” – free consultancy
An inevitability of life
A report about a problem
Legal document setting out the facts and legal reasons for a case

4. Comment From Australian Ombudsmen
One of the universal problems of the Ombudsman is the chronic
complainer; people who feel passionately about their own
cause and are uncompromising in their reaction to a negative
conclusion on the part of the Ombudsman. Such people can
sometimes cause a great deal of disproportionate disruption to
the work of the Ombudsman and his staff Of course, the Ombudsman already can decline to investigate matters. But vexatious complainants
can cause a great deal of time loss. The issue was discussed at a recent meeting of ombudsmen in Helsinki It is a universal phenomenon. It should have attention in this country.2
HOW OLD IS THIS COMMENT?

5. What is unreasonable complaint behaviour?
Unreasonable complaint conduct is behaviour by a current or former complainant which, because of its nature or frequency, raises substantial health, safety, resource or equity issues for the parties to a complaint.
IMPACT
High resource cost
High stress levels
High reputational impact

6. What drives unreasonable complaint behaviour?
Negative attitude “perpetual complainer”
Reinforcing negative thoughts
Avoid responsibility “displacing”
Compensation seeking
Procrastination
Unrealistic expectations
Failure to resolve previous complaint “unfinished business”
Perceptions

7. How big is the problem?
Evidence suggests that malicious complaints are still a minority
Regulators are increasingly using complaint history to establish a balanced view before triggering inspection based on malicious complaints
Whilst a minority personal impact can be immense for individuals concerned

8. How can you tell a reasonable and an unreasonable complaint?
Clearly defined process and records
Follow process for all complaints
Treat all complaints with fairness and respect
All complaints should be considered on their merits
Unreasonable complaint conduct does not preclude there being a valid issue
The substance of a complaint dictates the level of resource dedicated to it
Anger is an acceptable emotion as long as not expressed through aggression and violence

9. Does a policy work?
“A prolific complainant is someone who raises the same issue despite having been given a full response and may display certain types of behaviour: • Complains about every part of the health system regardless of the issue • Seeks attention by contacting several agencies and individuals • Always repeats the full complaint • Automatically responds to any letter from the CCGs • Insists that they have not received an adequate response • Focuses on a trivial matter Complainants may be deemed to be a ‘persistent complainant’ where on-going contact with them shows that they meet at least two of the following criteria.” NHS Nene and Corby Clinical Commissioning Group Management of Persistent and Vexatious Complaints Policy

10. What is the role of the media in healthcare?
‘…the problem with the media and the health service is they spend most of their time just highlighting bad practice and bad news stories, and spend very little time actually talking about good news stories.’
Sol Mead, former Chair, Association of Medical Royal Colleges Patient Liaison Group.

11. Did you know?
Customer service mantra: Customer has positive experience will tell 3 people but bad experience will tell 30 people Crica 2000 Customer has positive experience will tell 3 people but bad experience will tell people on social media Circa 2015

12. BBC Recommend Complaining on Twitter
Why it pays to complain via Twitter
By Lucy Wallis BBC News Using social media to get a complaint heard is expected to increase in popularity
There was a time when a strongly worded letter was the only means of having your complaint heard by a company, but is tweeting now the best way to get your gripe to the front of the queue?

13. Complaints are not always what they seem!
INSERT ASDA YOU TUBE VIDEO

14. Create a positive environment
LISTEN
APOLOGISE
FIND SOLUTION
FOLLOW UP

15. Golden Rules Invite user feedback and involvement Be proactive
Ensure all users can access feedback and complaint systems
Train and support staff to deal with all complaints
Encourage users to speak to you rather than Tweeting
Add value and follow through