Making Experiences Count

REMEMBER, IF SOMEONE IS SERIOUSLY ILL OR INJURED, AND THEIR LIFE IS AT RISK, YOU SHOULD CALL 999 IMMEDIATELY

The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust is committed to ensuring our services are as good as they can be. Every year we complete over three million patient journeys. The vast majority of times our patients receive a high quality professional service. From time to time, things may go wrong and when they do, we want you to tell us about it.

Our Making Experiences Count Team is your first point of contact if you have any comments, compliments, concerns or a complaint about the service or treatment you have received from the North West Ambulance Service.

If your enquiry is of an urgent nature, please telephone the Making Experiences Count Team on 0345 112 6500. A member of the team will be available Monday to Friday 09.30 - 16.00.

Compliments

Your compliments are valued by the Trust and we always ensure we share these with our staff. If you wish to compliment the service you have received from the North West Ambulance Service, please telephone, email or write to us:

The Making Experiences Count Team
449 - 451 Garstang Road
Preston
PR3 5LN

Tel: 0345 112 6500

Email: patientexperience@nwas.nhs.uk.

Concerns and Complaints

Your comments, concerns and complaints also provide the Trust with valuable feedback. Please use our contact details above to telephone, email or write to us. When you contact us, let us know as many details as you can - such as date, time, location, patient name if you are raising concerns on behalf of someone else, a summary of your concerns and what you expect to happen as a result of your concern. This will help us to locate the incident and the staff involved with the care provided to you or the individual you are representing.

When we receive your concern/complaint

When we receive your concern/complaint we will assess your case by evaluating its complexity and create an investigation plan. We will acknowledge we have received your concern within 3 working days and agree a timescale for resolution. We are committed to resolving concerns as quickly as possible and in some instances this may be within one working day, but up to a number of months for serious adverse incidents that are complex to investigate. We will seek the appropriate consent, discuss your concerns with you and keep you involved and updated throughout the handling of your concern.

Concerns relating to more than one care provider

Where the care provided to you inolves other health and social care providers, we will liaise with those providers to ensure that you receive a single response to your concern. With your consent we will share the content of your enquiry with the other organisation, complete a joint assessment and determine who will be the lead organisation and your main point of contact.

Responding to your concern

Once a thorough investigation is complete you will be provided with a response to your concern. Resolving concerns and complaints at a local level remains the aim of the NHS. If you are dissatisfied with your response the North West Ambulance Service is committed to reviewing your case in an effort to exhaust local resolution attempts. If you remain dissatisfied then you can seek independent investigation of your complaint from The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Telephone: 0345 015 4033

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Improving our services

All feedback from the experiences of patients, carers and their relatives provides opportunities for the North West Ambulance Service to learn and improve. Recommendations are regularly reported and shared at the highest level in the organisation to help us provide better patient care.

If you need support in raising a concern or making a complaint

The Carers Federation is one of only three companies nationally to deliver the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS), a free confidential and independent service that supports people through the NHS complaints process.

The role of the ICAS is to support people who want to make a complaint about their NHS-funded treatment or care. It's a free, confidential and independent service designed to help people understand their rights and make informed choices.

When you contact ICAS you will be supported throughout the complaints process by an experienced advocate who really understands how the NHS works.

Telephone: 0300 456 8350

What if I want to raise a concern on behalf of someone else

If you have concerns about the service provided to a close friend or relative, you may wish to raise a concern on their behalf. It is important that you have their agreement as we cannot release personal information without the patient's consent. We will ask for signed consent from the patient, in some situations this may not be possible. Our team will be able to advise you of the best course of action in these circumstances and you may be asked to provide documentation to confirm you are the patient's next of kin, have parental responsbility and/or have power of attorney.

What we will do to resolve your enquiry

When we receive an enquiry, complaint or a report about an incident we will consider doing the following:

Examine and evaluate our records relating to the incident. For example, the tape recordings of the 999 call, and the patient report form (the record of the assessment and treatment provided).
Meet with you or whoever has made the enquiry, where appropriate.
Examine what demand we faced at the time of the incident and what staff and vehicles we had available.
Obtain an account of events from the staff involved.
Obtain a quality assurance evaluation of the way in which the 999 call was managed.
Obtain clinical advice about the care provided.
Obtain records relating to the incident from other provider organisations, where appropriate.

Where appropriate, we will take the following action:

Involve relevant senior managers and our Medical Directorate at an early stage. We may also obtain independent clinical advice.
Have face-to-face meetings at an early stage, where requested or appropriate.
Arrange independent mediation where appropriate.
Ask people independent of our organisation to carry out an inquiry, especially if we do not have the expertise ourselves.
Liaise with a representative from the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service.
Liaise with other health and social care providers where they may have been involved in the matter.
Advise you, if the organisation has referred the staff member associated with your concern to the Health Professions Council or other regulatory body
Offer a comprehensive explanation of how the incident was managed.
Explain what action we are going to take, if any.

Our promise to you

When we receive a concern, you can expect us to do the following:

Acknowledge your concern within 3 working days, this is based on our Making Experiences Count Team's team working office hours, Monday to Friday 09.30 - 16.00.
Help you to find the best way of resolving your concern or getting an answer to your question.
Confirm with you, your desired outcome.
Agree with you a timescale or resolution.
Handle your enquiry in confidence.
Keep you updated on the progress of your concern.
Use information from your concern to improve our services.
Adopt the Health Service Ombudsman prinicples of good complaint handling.

What we will do if we get it wrong

Although we aim to provide a high quality service, there are times when we get it wrong. When that happens we will do the following:

Offer you an apology
Review the care we provided or the way we managed the incident with a senior manager, training manager or other, and reflect on what happened in a way that helps us to learn from the experience.
Take fair and proportionate action
Look at the most appropriate form of remedy for you.
Use your experience to improve our policies and practice.
Explain what we have done to address the issues raised and prevent them happening again.

Discrimination

The Trust encourages patients and members of the public to speak openly and honestly about any concerns they may have. We can assure you that any feedback you provide will be treated confidentially and sensitively. Anyone not satisfied with the service they receive will not be discriminated against due to raising a concern.