I have spent many years speaking with patients who call in looking for advice about claiming for poor treatment they have received. I remember I attended a lecture many years ago when I was first advising patients and the statement at that time was that 75% of complaints could be avoided if staff took their time to explain all the issues to the patient including what their injury was, how this was to be treated, why this might or might not work, and the options available to them.
Research has since backed this up and it has been shown that:
- Patient understanding: Research suggests that when healthcare professionals take the time to explain diagnoses, treatment options, and the reasons for certain decisions, patients are less likely to feel confused or dissatisfied. This includes giving patients clear, understandable explanations in language they can grasp, rather than relying on medical jargon.
- Empathy and active listening: Studies also highlight the role of empathy in reducing complaints. Patients often report feeling better about their care when they feel listened to, understood, and respected, even if the outcome isn't ideal. Training healthcare professionals in empathy and active listening has been shown to improve patient experiences.
- Patient expectations: Some research indicates that unmet expectations - often linked to poor communication - can lead to complaints. When patients don’t know what to expect, they may be dissatisfied even if the care they receive is actually appropriate. Setting clear expectations through effective communication can help manage this.
- Patient safety and outcomes: In addition to reducing complaints, clear communication has been shown to improve patient safety and treatment outcomes. For example, better communication about medications, potential side effects, and aftercare can help prevent mistakes and complications.
- Impact on complaints: There’s evidence showing that a lot of complaints to the NHS (and other healthcare systems) arise from perceived poor communication or misunderstandings. When staff explain things well, it can lower the likelihood of those complaints.
These results are based on many studies ones carried out by the NHS itself being The NHS Patient Survey 2019 and Communication and Complaints in the NHS 2014.
These studies highlight a common thread: improving communication in healthcare, particularly in terms of explaining things clearly to patients, can help reduce dissatisfaction and the number of complaints made. It's also noted that training healthcare professionals in communication skills - empathy, active listening, and giving clear explanations - can lead to more positive experiences and better patient outcomes.
I wondered how this had been implemented in our local hospital trusts, and they have looked to implement procedures to reduce complaints. However, UHCW continue to receive up to 4000 complaints a year and, although these complaints cover a range of issues, the common themes often include concerns about communication, as well as delays in care, and dissatisfaction with the quality of treatment or patient experience.
Complaints are broken down as follows:
- Communication issues: As with many NHS trusts, communication is one of the most frequent reasons for complaints. Patients often report dissatisfaction with how information is shared or how staff explain their conditions, treatments, or care plans.
- Delays and wait times: Delays in treatment, waiting times, and hospital discharge processes also commonly feature in complaints.
- Staff attitudes: A small percentage of complaints may relate to the perceived attitude or professionalism of staff, though mostly staff are praised for their care.
UHCW report that they have a robust process for handling complaints and a clear focus on learning from feedback to improve services. This includes their own internal complaints procedure which can be found on their website, they offer the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) to raise informal complaints, Root Cause Analysis Reports are instigated to provide an in-depth look at a concerning event and how the hospital can learn from an incident and Patient Experience Reports which summarises patients’ feedback and includes complaints data.
It remains that most complaints arise from the lack of communication either in not receiving enough information in a way that the patient can understand or the perceived lack of care and attitude from staff.
How much of this is related to the lack of staff, lack of time and underfunding is not made clear but, in my view, these issues are likely to be a huge contributing factors.
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