Upheld complaints

We apologised for your experience. Learning from this case will be taken forward to improve processes and decision-making across the service.

We are also working towards better communications with the hospital, to ensure that we are provided with clearer and more timely information, to prevent this type of situation from occurring in the future. 

Our Children and Young People (CYP) Head of Emotional Mental Health & Wellbeing Commissioning telephoned you to discuss your concerns.

It was recognised that there is a gap in service provision, and we will look to address this in the future. We made you aware of the Right to Choose option for care to consider going forward.

We shared all relevant information with the GP practice, who acknowledged that they were previously unaware of the Allergy Service for COVID-19 vaccinations and apologised for this.

We provided a written response, addressing each of the concerns raised in full with input from each provider.

Each organisation identified learning from the complaint and clearly explained how this would be implemented to ensure that all patients feel that their clinical profile are appropriately acknowledged. 

We apologised for your experience and advised that this had been escalated as a priority to the supplier in order for this matter to be rectified.

The ICB contacted the GP practice to see if there was a possibility of making their Medical Request forms more available via the website and NHS App.

We coordinated a joint response with input from Dorking Healthcare Limited, the GP practice and Surrey and Borders Partnership (SABP).

Each concern was addressed in full in a comprehensive written response and all learnings set out clearly.

We apologised that you were not given the option to cancel the assessment in view of Social Care’s late cancellation of attendance.

This was fed back to the CHC Bookings Team to advise that should a member of the team cancel on the day, the next of kin should always be contacted to decide whether to go ahead or reschedule.

We offered to arrange a nurse-led visit to your wife to discuss the pad fitting and usage and it was agreed to vary your wife’s pad provision.

The Contracting Team spoke with CSH Surrey to explore the opportunities to flexibly support both you and your wife.

We explained that following discussions with colleagues across education and social care, increased funding to support your son had been agreed and released.

We sincerely apologised for the delay in this payment being made, which was due to an issue with the system, which has now been rectified.

We contacted the patient’s GP Practice (with her permission) who apologised for the error and acknowledged that the shared Care Agreement should not have been cancelled.

This was reinstated and a prescription sent to the patient’s local pharmacy for her medication. 

We met with the GP Practice and worked with them to agree actions and timeframes to ensure that systems are in place to ensure adherence to their contractual requirements.

The practice provided assurance that all patients, both newly and previously registered, will be allocated a named GP within a 4-month period and each patient will be informed of this.

We apologised to the complainant for her experience and invited her to attend a meeting to discuss her concerns and agreed to the increase of her daughter’s care for a 3 month period.

A single point of contact was provided to the complainant for her child’s care moving forward, to ensure ease of access.

We apologised for the inconvenience caused, explaining that staffing shortages meant that sometimes, the line is required to close completely at night time or in extreme circumstances.

When closed, the voice message is changed to provide dial pad options for callers to be directed to their local maternity triage telephone line.

The service has since reviewed it’s workforce requirements, alongside the intended scope of the line to ensure that it supports a safe, high-quality maternity experience for expectant parents and their loved ones.

The appeals process was reviewed to ensure that it aligns with best practice; allowing families to engage with the process and that the most appropriate package of care for can be agreed upon.

We invited the complainant to meet with the Children’s Continuing Care (CCC) Team to discuss his daughter’s care and it was explained that the complaint would be moved from the formal complaints process to the new, CCC appeals process.

We apologised for the inconvenience caused to you and confirmed that all new and existing members of the RSS Team were reminded of the importance of allowing a 2-week notice period when booking future appointments to prevent this from happening again.

We referred the patient to the Wheelchair Service at Queen Mary’s Hospital, as per the complainant’s request and apologised for their experience.

We provided reassurance that Ross Care would update their website to include a copy of their Complaints Policy, as the complainant had been unable to find this.

We invited the complainant to meet with the CCC Team to discuss his daughter’s care and it was explained that the complaint would be moved from the formal complaints process to the new, CCC appeals process.

The complainant was contacted directly by the SEND Clinical Case Manager for Children and Young People and reassured that funding would be upheld for the forthcoming school year.

The contact email address for the staff member assigned to his son’s care was provided in a written response.

We provided the meeting minutes, explaining the reason for the delay and apologised for the complainant’s experience.

Reassurance was provided that this had been discussed with the staff member concerned, for reflection and learning.  

We addressed each of the complainant’s points in turn through written response, apologising for their experience and recognising that this was not the standard of service we aim to deliver.

Enclosed with the response was further, helpful information regarding Social Care Referrals and Personal Health Care Budgets.

The CCC Team also contacted the complainant by telephone, to ensure that the patient is receiving the appropriate care.

We conducted an internal investigation and the data breach was recorded via our internal incident reporting system, Datix.

Reassurance was provided that the information incorrectly shared with the third party had now been deleted by them and a discussion had been undertaken with the staff member concerned, to encourage reflection and learning.

We provided two written responses and offered the complainant the opportunity to meet with our Dental Commissioning Management Team.

This offer has been accepted.

We explained that medication shortages are occurring more frequently in the UK and globally and we acknowledged the significant impact that this has on patients, Pharmacies and GP Practices.

We explained that, for any long-term prescription, you should visit your local Pharmacy in the first instance and if your local Pharmacy does not have your medication in-stock, you can obtain your prescription from another Pharmacy.

We explained that unfortunately, there is currently no national system which enables visibility of stock across primary and secondary care however there are a number of local systems in place to support stock availability between Pharmacies and GP Practices.

We arranged a call between the complainant and our Deputy Director of Mental Health Commissioning.

Alternative providers were discussed and a referral was made to a provider with a much shorter waiting list.  We recognised the importance of ensuring that patients and their carers understand their choices in relation to mental health treatment, and we updated our website to reflect this.

We confirmed in our written response that a paper would be going to the Area Prescribing Committee (APC) in April 2023. 

Following this, an email update was provided to you explaining that the APC had made a recommendation to fund CGM in line with NICE guidelines for Type 1 diabetes and a final decision has been forwarded on to the Integrated Care System Executive Team to make a decision.