Complaints Manager
Job Description
Job summary
The Complaint Manager will assist the Complaints Team Lead to provide a great complainant experience; contribute to the drive for improvement in quality of complaint resolutions; reduce returning concerns; work with service/clinical leads to identify actions, learning and outcomes; meet complaint timescales and milestones; and ensure the team meet the all regulations, CQC and PHSO NHS Complaint Standards.
To provide advice and guidance to Trust staff to resolve concerns and complaints, via local resolution, in the most appropriate and reasonable way. Encourage a culture of openness, honesty and learning from feedback from patients and the public.
Assist with in training colleagues in the wider Trust, for staff to understand their own responsibilities and the level of quality required to successfully resolve complaints.
Use skills of influence, mediation and negotiation to prevent concerns escalating into a formal complaint.
Responsible for ensuring the maintenance of timely and accurate records and databases, working to relevant governance and regulatory standards
Identify and to ensure trust wide learning from when things go wrong is transferred into practice and future developments. You will support the care groups to provide quality assurance for action plans to learn from complaints and improve patient experience.
Main duties of the job
Supporting the Complaints Team Lead to ensure fair and even distribution of workloads.
To provide advice and support to team members and Trust staff, on case management or interaction with challenging clients.
Assist with the execution of a comprehensive induction and ongoing training plans for all new and existing staff. Train and buddy/mentor staff when required.
Assist in the delivery of CPBS awareness sessions, attending team or quality meetings when required to discuss complaints and PALS, to share best practice across the Trust.
Manage your own caseload, including investigations and response writing, across a wide range of specialities. Co-ordinate responses for complaints, ensuring that each complaint is listened to, understood, properly considered, appropriately responded to and learnt from.
Escalate complex and/or high-profile patient complaints to the Complaints Team Lead. Report any significant risks or developments concerning complaints, seeking guidance, support or further action.
Ensure familiarity of complaint database, being able to run reports, when required.
To understand NHS complaints regulations, policy and processes, and other relevant guidelines to ensure compliance.
To attend/chair local resolutions meetings with clients and other Trust staff.
Liaise with care groups to ensure achieved desired outcomes from PALS and complaints, in sometimes difficult situations, using influencing and persuading skills.
About us
We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.
Please note that if you require a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK you must declare this on your application form, even if you currently have a certificate of sponsorship or a work permit for another role and are already working in the country. Please note we are only able to sponsor candidates on a Skilled Worker Visa applying for roles Band 5 and above.
Job responsibilities
Supporting the Complaints Team Lead to ensure fair and even distribution of workloads.
To provide advice and support to team members and Trust staff, on case management or interaction with challenging clients.
Assist with the execution of a comprehensive induction and ongoing training plans for all new and existing staff. Train and buddy/mentor staff when required.
Assist in the delivery of CPBS awareness sessions, attending team or quality meetings when required to discuss complaints and PALS, to share best practice across the Trust.
Be a lead for an agreed care group, to engage with them to raise the issue of complaints performance, staff engagement and quality of responses.
You will need to be focussed on key targets; delivering responses against deadlines and other KPIs within the team.
Manage your own caseload, including investigations and response writing, across a wide range of specialities. Co-ordinate responses for complaints, ensuring that each complaint is listened to, understood, properly considered, appropriately responded to and learnt from. To assist with this, you will need to build and maintain relationships with trust staff and key stakeholders to support their management of their individual complaint investigations, including facilitating the implementation of change.
Escalate complex and/or high-profile patient complaints to the Complaints Team Lead. Report any significant risks or developments concerning complaints, seeking guidance, support or further action.
Ensure familiarity of complaint database, being able to run reports, when required.
To understand NHS complaints regulations, policy and processes, and other relevant guidelines to ensure compliance.
To assist in the improvement of complaint delivery and working to exceed the PHSO NHS Complaint Standards.
To attend/chair local resolutions meetings with clients and other Trust staff, to ensure a professional meeting, with agreed actions and outcomes.
Liaise with care groups to ensure achieved desired outcomes from PALS and complaints, in sometimes difficult situations, using influencing and persuading skills.
To assist team members by carrying out peer reviews of complaint responses, to support colleagues and the drive for complaint response quality.
Support the Complaints Team Lead with Parliamentary Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) cases being investigated.
Person Specification
Skills
Essential
- oEducated to degree level or Diploma or equivalent professional experience.
- oComprehensive working knowledge of Microsoft Office in particular Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint.
- oExcellent time management and organisational skills, including experience of prioritising, planning and organising self and when deputising for the Complaints Team Lead, others workloads.
- oOutstanding written and verbal communication skills; able to identify and adapt to audience needs.
- oAware of the requirements of: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests
Desirable
- oHigh level of presentation skills.
- oPreparation of cases for the PSHO.
- oClinical background or evidence of a substantial understanding of clinical issues.
- oExperience of chairing/running meetings. Experience of dealing with challenging situations.
- oAbility to support colleagues when they are under pressure, or there are well-being concerns.
Experience
Essential
- oExperience in complaint investigations, response and management, including writing and reviewing complaint responses.
- oThree years administrative experience.
- oCustomer service experience.
- oAbility to work autonomously or as part of a team - including working from home. Ability to work to tight deadlines, with changing demands.
- oTo demonstrate that you have the ability to work flexibly and to adapt to changing priorities, sometimes at short notice.
Desirable
- oAcute Hospital Trust complaints experience.
- oExperience of delivering training.
- oAwareness of the: NHS Constitution, PHSO NHS Complaints Guidelines, Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints, CQC compliance frameworks.
- oExperience and understanding the requirements of: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests.
- oAwareness of the role of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab) .
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into ...
