Best Practice in Complaint Handling for Healthcare Professionals

This course will consider the root causes of complaints, how to identify a potential complaint, defusing complaints, the importance of open culture, and reflecting and learning from complaints.

This course will move through all the stages involved in managing complaints. It will look at the importance of clarifying the issues of the complaint, organising meetings with the complainant and liaising with relevant staff. It will then consider how to investigate the complaint, record that investigation and draw it to a conclusion in accordance with best practice principles.

Key learning points:

• The root causes of complaints,
• How to identify potential complaints,
• How serious complaints are investigated,
• Interviewing key staff members – do’s and don’ts,
• Questioning skills,
• Handling people’s emotional responses to complaints,
• The importance of listening and managing expectations at the initial stage,
• How to defuse complaints,
• The importance of open culture, and reflecting and learning,
• The implications of your complaints policy in practice,
• Your role and responsibilities under the policy,
• Recording your investigation and drawing it to a conclusion,
• Your findings and recommendations,
• Writing your Investigation Report.

Who should attend and why?

Every healthcare agency must have a comprehensive complaints policy setting out how they respond to complaints. Those involved in investigating complaints need to be equipped with the necessary skills to deal with the complainant, other staff members and lawyers. They need to know how to investigate the complaint, who to talk to and how to get colleagues to co-operate with the investigation.

They also need to know how to run and manage meetings and how to make full and first class notes and records of their investigation and the outcome. In addition they will also need to understand the legal environment and how complaints are brought to litigation.

This healthcare legal training course will distill the knowledge, competencies and skills required to be able to handle all aspects of complaints management in accordance with best practice principles.