Complaints and compliments

Compliments

We know we have thousands of team members caring for residents and their families in a way that helps them celebrate life at Barchester. If you have something positive to share or want to say a special thank you to someone we want to hear from you. We will always try to share your compliment with the team member involved and celebrate where things are working well and teams are delivering exceptional service and care.

Please contact either the home manager/hospital director or the central team at feedback@barchester.com, by telephone on: - 0207 382 2860 or by post at: - Customer Feedback Team, Barchester, 3rd Floor, The Aspect, 12 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1AS. Where possible, do try and tell us who your compliment is about and what it was they did so well.

Concerns and Complaints

We take feedback seriously at Barchester and do our best to work with customers if issues occur to put things right and learn lessons for the future.

If, despite our best intentions, the service does not meet your expectations and you are unhappy please contact the General Manager/Hospital Director or any senior member of the team. We are always willing to discuss your concerns and want to hear from you to put things right. There are three stages to our complaints policy at Barchester. At each stage you will receive a written acknowledgement within 3 working days and a full response within 20 working days.

Please note: Complaints can be made by a resident or patient who is affected by an action OR a person acting on a patient’s/ resident’s behalf such as a relative, carer or a duly appointed legal representative. Complaints can be made on behalf of a person who lacks capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 as long as Barchester Healthcare is satisfied that the person making the complaint is acting in the best interest of the resident/patient.

Scotland services: - Barchester Healthcare services in Scotland are registered with and regulated by the Care Inspectorate (CI). If you wish to make a complaint to them instead of ourselves about a Scottish care home you can contact the Care Inspectorate at Compass House, Riverside Drive, Dundee, DD1 4NY, 0345 600 9527 or visit www.careinspectorate.com

Raising a concern

Where possible, we want to resolve your concerns informally through great conversations. Tell a member of the team at the home or hospital and they should do their best to resolve any issues. If they cannot resolve the concern you’ve raised within 3 days, it will be escalated to a complaint.

Raising a complaint

The complaints process at Barchester Healthcare has three stages. We find the majority of concerns can be resolved during the first stage. At each stage you will receive a written acknowledgement within 3 working days and a full response within 20 working days.

Stage 1: Listening to you locally

We recommend that all concerns should be raised with the Home Manager/Hospital Director in the first instance, as many issues can be resolved immediately. You can contact them by visiting the home for a meeting, by phone, by email or in writing. Complaints should be raised within 3 months. We do understand it isn’t always possible to raise a complaint directly with the people involved in providing the care, so in that situation you are welcome to raise your complaint with the central team. We will acknowledge your complaint and start a thorough investigation providing a formal written response. In exceptional cases we may request more time to conduct our investigation, if this is the case you will be kept informed and provided with a revised response date.

Stage 2: Listening to you regionally

If you are unhappy with the response you receive from Stage 1, you can contact the General Manager/Hospital Director or Customer Feedback Team within 20 days of receiving a formal written response. They will try to understand the reasons why it is not resolved and allocate to one of our Regional Team Members to review and agree a resolution. Again this will be acknowledged by them, within 3 working days of receiving the escalation and a formal response will be provided within 20 working days.

Stage 3: Listening to you at a senior level

If you don’t feel your complaint has been resolved at Stage 2 let the Customer Feedback Team know, they will refer your complaint to a senior and independent member of the team to investigate and reach a resolution. Please do this within 20 working days of receiving a stage 2 formal written response.

If after Stage 3 you still feel we haven’t reached a resolution you can refer your complaint to an external body:-

England

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman provide a free, independent service. Barchester Healthcare supports the LGSCO initiative to provide a single statement that summarises how care providers will look into complaints, to view this statement please click here. We will follow the Ombudsman decision, if you agree with it.

The Local Government Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) will only review complaints once all stages of Barchester’s process have been followed. They can be contacted at www.lgo.org.uk or PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH, 0300 061 0614

Please note: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) for England are regulators only and do not investigate individual complaints or concerns raised.

Wales

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. 1 Ffordd Yr Hen Gae, Pencoed, CF35 5LJ, 0300 790 0203, ask@ombudsman-wales.org.uk

Please note:- Care Inspectorate Wales are unable legally to investigate individual complaints or resolve disagreements between people and their service providers.

Jersey

Jersey Care Commission, 23 Hill Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 4UA

01534 445 80, enquiries@carecommission.je

Contacting our central team:-

The Customer Feedback Team are on hand to work with you to reach a resolution should you feel your complaint is not resolved at home level or throughout any step of the process. You can contact them by email at: - feedback@barchester.com, by telephone on: - 0207 382 2860 or by post at: - Customer Feedback Team, Barchester, 3rd Floor, The Aspect, 12 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1AS.

Employee’s policy

Please note: the concerns and complaints process does not cover Barchester Healthcare employees wishing to raise a grievance regarding their employment or the running of the home. If you are an employee and would like to report any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, dishonest, or not correct you are encouraged to report your concerns, in confidence. Speak to the General Manager/Hospital Director or Regional/Divisional Director so that the concern can be effectively and promptly investigated OR call 0800 542 5913 (quote 72744). You will not be required to identify yourself but will be asked certain information sufficient to enable Barchester Healthcare to investigate fully.

If you are an employee who has a personal complaint about their own employment you should pursue your concerns through the Company’s grievance procedure, which can be found in the Employee Handbook.