Complaining about mental health services

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By Gul

I have recently been involved with the NHS mental health services. I have made several complaints about my care. So, I decided to write this blog post to provide advice and information about how to make a complaint, along with organisations that may be able to help with this.

Don’t Be Afraid To Complain

Contact the complaints team and raise your concerns over the phone or in writing. The manager of the service that the complaint is aimed at investigates an informal complaint. The complaints department investigates formal complaints. The Chief Executive investigates complaints raised by MPs on behalf of a constituent. The complaints team provide a copy of the trust’s complaints policy and other relevant policies. It may also be helpful to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) for a copy of your patient records.

The Citizen’s Advice and the NHS Complaints Advocacy websites also offer advice and sample letters for complaints about NHS care. You can find complaints advocates on the NHS Complaints Advocacy and the HealthWatch website. Complaints advocates can help write complaint letters and attend meetings, free of charge.

If you are an inpatient, you can have an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA). They can support you with your complaint. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) can also investigate a complaint about the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA) (1983, updated 2007) if you are staying in a hospital, subject to a Community Treatment Order (CTO) or subject to guardianship.

Who Does Your Complaint Concern?

In the instance that your complaint concerns social workers, who work in mental health services, then raise this with the council. If there are serious concerns about a social worker’s practice or behaviour, then you can make a public referral to The Health and Care Professional’s Council (HCPC).

If your complaint is about nurses, you can make a public referral to The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). However, only if these instances apply: abuse of professional power, serious or repeated mistakes in patient care, serious breaches of patient confidentiality, dishonesty, and a poor standard of English.

You can make a public referral to The General Medical Council (GMC). This is in the instance of a doctor making serious or repeated mistakes in patient care. It can also be in the instance of a doctor failing to respond reasonably to a patient’s needs. For example, not referring for further investigations when necessary). Any violence, sexual assault or indecency can also be grounds for a referral, along with fraud or dishonesty, a serious criminal offence or abuse of professional position (e.g. a sexual relationship with a patient), discrimination against colleagues or patients, a serious breach of patient confidentiality or a poor standard of English.

Still Not Satisfied?

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, then an independent review can be requested from The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). A review from the PHSO must be requested within 12 months of when the complaint(s) occurred. If a review is requested after this time, the PHSO may still be able to investigate, if there is a valid reason for the delay. If you have, or are, planning on taking legal action, then the PHSO may not be able to investigate your complaint.

It may vary with different NHS trusts but, generally, the complaints team do not investigate breaches of the Data Protection Act (DPA) (1998). The Information Governance and Records Manager deals with this. A referral can be made to The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), if necessary.

Share Your Experiences

If you would like further advice, you can contact Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), Citizen’s Advice, Mind Legal Line, Rethink Mental Illness, and The Patients’ Association.

If you are a member of a union like the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) or Unison, you can access 30 minutes of free legal advice and also telephone counselling.

You can also share your experiences on Care Opinion, with the CQC, in the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT), with your local HealthWatch, with your local NHS Trust’s Council of Governors and with their Patient Experience Team.

Reproduced with permission, originally posted here: https://mhtalk.blogspot.com