A lived experience of the complaints process from a patient and carer perspective
Joy Hibbins, Founder and CEO, Suicide Crisis, with Darren Watts, Carer Representative
Pre-event abstract
Darren and Joy first met at an NHS mental health trust public board meeting. It subsequently became apparent that there were similarities between their experiences of mental health services.
Darren will speak from the perspective of carer, and Joy from the perspective of patient.
In their individual presentations, they will each explain their own personal experiences of NHS complaints procedures, notifiable safety incidents, serious incident reviews and the Duty of Candour procedure. Their experiences led to the involvement of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Care Quality Commission, amongst others.
They both feel that the complaints procedure and serious incident reviews impacted adversely upon them. They hope to convey how this lengthy process could be avoided by mental health providers resolving complaints appropriately and effectively. By taking a defensive approach, the service provider loses the opportunity to resolve issues promptly, and risks increasing the level of harm caused to the patient.
Supporting frontline clinicians to manage complaints and ensure change occurs
Mr Erik Mayer, Consultant Surgeon, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust & The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Clinical Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London
Mr Erik Mayer is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London. He is an Honorary Consultant Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHNT) and The Royal Marsden Hospital and the Transformation Chief Clinical Information Officer at ICHNT.
He completed a PhD thesis evaluating Quality and Safety of Care in Surgery with emphasis on measuring the impact of centralisation of care (volume-outcome relationship). Ongoing health services research uses big data analytical techniques for evaluating quality and safety in healthcare (using both structured and unstructured data) and includes evaluation and translation of evidence-base to the real world healthcare setting. He has a particular interest in novel assessment tools for capturing patient experience during treatment episodes, including across the entire patient pathway.
He is Theme lead for ‘Partnering with Patients for Safer Care’ in the NIHR Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, which is using a range of cutting-edge approaches to promote greater patient and carer involvement in healthcare and shape future patient safety practice, including the complaints handling process. He chairs the ICHNT Clinical Analytics Steering Group and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics.
Improving practice in early resolution
Michele Golden, Deputy Director of Safety and Learning, NHS Resolution
Michele joined NHS Resolution in January 2019. She is also NHS Resolution’s lead for the Faculty of Learning. Michele is a registered nurse and although not currently in clinical practice remains on the NMC register. Her nursing career was predominantly in the fields of oncology and palliative care. She worked mainly in England with a trip to Australia; working in Adelaide and Brisbane. Her MSc is in Advanced Clinical Practice and she was on the first cohort of Registered Nurse Teachers who achieved the University lecturers qualification when it was launched in 1998.
Michele then moved into regulation working for the Healthcare Commission before they became the Care Quality Commission. She has been responsible for regulating health and social care. In her last post Michele was Head of GP inspections for London and Head of Urgent Primary Care for England. She was responsible for leading the delivery of the first ever GP inspection programme.