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Complaints and patient advice and liaison service (PALS) annual report 2023 to 2024

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For information about our complaints and patient advice and liaison service (PALS) annual report 2023 to 2024 please see:

Contents

1 Executive summary

In accordance with the NHS Complaints Regulations (2009) this report sets out a detailed analysis of the number and nature of complaints received by the trust during the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

This report also provides a summary for the same period of:

  • patient advice and liaison service (PALS) enquiries
  • Your Opinion Counts (YOC) feedback
  • friends and family test scores
  • compliments recorded by trust staff

2 Complaints, patient advice and liaison service and Your Opinion Counts summary

Table 1 Summary data
April 2023 to March 2024 Percentage change April 2022 to March 2023
Complaints 70 Decrease of 4.77% 73
PALS 695 Increase of 13.38% 613
YOC (feedback received via Your Opinion Counts) 1189 Decrease of 20.20% 1490

The number of complaints received in the year April 2023 to March 2024 is comparable to the year April 2022 to March 2023. The number of enquiries to PALS has shown a significant increase; however, 27% of these enquiries related to concerns about other organisations and the enquirer was signposted appropriately. YOCs reporting has seen a decrease in the year April 2023 to March 2024.

2.1 Complaints

Rotherham care group had a 46% decrease in the number of complaints received in the year April 2023 to March 2024 compared to the year April 2022 to March 2023. Doncaster adult mental health (AMH) and learning disabilities care group showed a 77% increase. All other care groups remained relatively consistent with April 2022 to March 2023.

Patient care remains the largest category of complaint, equating to 37% of complaints. Communications and values and behaviours of staff were the second-highest categories with 14% each.

64 out of 70 (91%) of complaints have been acknowledged within three working days of receipt within the Patient Safety and Investigation team.

Of the 70 complaints received in the year April 2023 to March 2024, 22 were still ongoing at the time of this report (31 August 2024) and 5 had been withdrawn.

Of the remaining 43:

  • 0 (0%) were resolved within 25 to 40 working days
  • 1 (2%) were resolved in over 41 to 60 working days
  • 42 (98%) were 60 or more working days

The trust recognises this is a significant change from the year April 2022 to March 2023 and acknowledges that this is not the standard of response we would wish to provide to anyone who wishes to complain. The trust is committed to delivering on promise 4: Put patient feedback at the heart of how care is delivered in the trust, encouraging all staff to shape services around individuals’ diverse needs, and therefore as part of the complaints recovery plan, we are looking at timeframes for response with the intention that all complaints are dealt with within the agreed timeframes.

One complaint proceeded to second stage with the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) and is still under investigations by the PHSO.

2.2 Patient advice and liaison service (PALS)

The number of new PALS concerns received by the trust has increased to 695 in the year April 2023 to March 2024 from 613 in the year April 2022 to March 2023. However, 27% of these related to concerns about other organisations and providers which are signposted elsewhere.

The physical health and neurodiversity care group and North Lincolnshire adult mental health and talking therapies care group both showed an increase in numbers of contacts in the year April 2023 to March 2024.

The 5 most frequent general concerns raised through PALS across all services and localities have been categorised under:

  • clinical treatment
  • communication to or about a patient
  • info request and request for advice or Signposting
  • access to service
  • attitude of staff

347 out of 695 (50%) of enquirers to PALS were happy with the response they received. 9 (1%) were unhappy with the response but did not take it further. 19 (3%) progressed to raising a formal complaint and 1 enquirer raised a complaint via their MP. 39 (6%) were unable to be concluded; this may have been for a variety of reasons, for example the enquirer did not engage with the PALS team to progress the enquiry further. In 111 (16%) cases, no further contact was received from the enquirer to be able to ascertain their satisfaction with the service provided.

2.3 Your Opinions Counts (YOC)

In the year April 2023 to March 2024, Your Opinion Counts continued to be the trust’s primary source of direct experience feedback from patients, families, and carers. It was also the primary means of collecting our responses to the friends and family test question.

The number of forms received overall in the year April 2023 to March 2024 has decreased by 301 (20%) from 1490 in the year April 2022 to March 2023 to 1189 in the year April 2023 to March 2024. The trust is currently reviewing the process of receiving and monitoring the YOCs to improve the efficacy of the feedback.

The nature of feedback obtained via the YOC scheme continues to be overwhelmingly positive, with 90% being positive or mixed comments. The top 3 categories of comments, whether positive or negative, were ‘attitude of staff’, ‘general’ and ‘clinical treatment’.

2.4 Friends and family test

85.7% of respondents scored the trust as either very good or good.

3 Compliments

The number of compliments recorded by the trust has increased from April 2022 to March 2023 by 69% (total of 628 in the year April 2022 to March 2023 and 1058 in the year April 2023 to March 2024). This is mainly due to an increase by the children’s care group reporting of their compliments, for which their reporting has increased by almost 246% in the year April 2023 to March 2024. This system is reliant on staff recording compliments. This will be reviewed during the year April 2024 to March 2025.

4 Key developments in the year April 2023 to March 2024

During the year April 2023 to March 2024, we have undertaken a complaints process review. Focusing on ensuring that our patients and carers are at the heart of what we do. This included ensuring that we are working to and are compliant with the revised NHS Complaints Standards.

Care Opinion, an independent online platform where people can leave their thoughts, feedback, compliments, and informal complaints, was implemented in March 2024.

4.1 Introduction

In accordance with the NHS Complaints Regulations (2009) this report sets out a detailed analysis of the number and nature of complaints received by the trust during the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

This report also provides a summary of PALS (patient advice and liaison service) enquiries and comments received on the Your Opinion Counts (YOC) forms received by the trust during the period from1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

In line with national guidance, PALS address non-complex concerns at the point of contact, aiming to resolve problems quickly thus improving patient experience and avoiding the need to raise a complaint. Complex concerns are investigated thoroughly and responded to in accordance with best practice, and in cases where the person in question states they wish to complain, these cases are logged and managed as a formal complaint.

Also included is a summary of the Your Opinion Counts (YOC) feedback, friends and family test scores, and compliments recorded by staff during 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

4.2 Complaints

4.2.1 Complaints data

In the year April 2023 to March 2024 a total of 70 new and re-opened complaints were received. This is a decrease of 3 (4.11%) in from the year April 2022 to March 2023.

The table below shows the number of complaints received by month Trust-wide in the year April 2023 to March 2024 compared to the year April 2022 to March 2023.

Table 2 Complaints received by month
Month 2023 to 2024 2022 to 2023
April 6 8
May 8 5
June 4 7
July 3 6
August 7 5
September 3 5
October 7 9
November 3 5
December 5 3
January 6 8
February 12 6
March 6 6
Total 70 73

4.3 Complaints and services

4.3.1 Complaints received by care groups

The table below shows the number of complaints received by care group in the year April 2023 to March 2024 compared to the year April 2022 to March 2023.

Table 3 Complaints received by care group
Group April 2023 to March 2024 April 2022 to March 2023
Doncaster AMH and learning disabilities care group 23 13
Rotherham AMH care group 15 28
Physical health and neurodiversity care group 12 13
North Lincolnshire AMH and talking therapies care group 10 8
Children’s care group 8 10
Corporate services 2 1
Total 70 73

4.3.2 Complaints received by individual services in 2023 to 2024

Most trust services have received less than three complaints across the year. The services receiving more than three complaints in the year April 2023 to March 2024 are shown in table 4. Community and acute inpatients (adult mental health) remain the areas with the highest percentage of new complaints received during the year, reflecting the volume of activity in those areas.

Table 4 Services receiving 3 or more complaints by directorate each month
Directorates Community (mental health) Acute inpatients (mental health) Children’s mental health (CAMHS) Community physical health and long-term conditions Physical health (inpatients) Community (older peoples mental health)
April 0 2 0 0 0 1
May 0 3 1 1 2 0
June 1 1 1 0 0 0
July 3 0 0 0 0 0
August 3 3 0 0 0 1
October 2 1 2 0 1 0
November 1 1 0 0 0 0
December 1 0 2 1 0 0
January 2 1 0 2 1 0
March 2 2 1 0 0 0
Total 22 15 8 6 5 3

Table 5 details the specific services or wards where 3 or more complaints were received in the year April 2023 to March 2024.

Doncaster community mental health services had the highest number of complaints with 13 received. There were seven complaints about child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS), primarily Rotherham and Doncaster services. There is a national concern with the neurodevelopment pathway with long delays in awaiting assessments, but it is acknowledged that the CAMHS Service in Rotherham is experiencing a long length of time for neurodevelopmental assessments to be undertaken.

Four complaints were regarding Cusworth Ward, an acute adult mental health ward. Inpatient wards, however, provide care for patients with higher acuity and additional challenges in terms of complexity.

Table 5 Service and wards receiving 3 or more complaints in the year April 2023 to March 2024
Service Number
Doncaster community services (MH) 13
Rotherham community services (MH) 8
North Lincolnshire community services (MH) 6
Rotherham CAMHS 4
Doncaster Cusworth ward 4
Doncaster community nursing 4
Rotherham osprey ward 3
North Lincolnshire mulberry house 3
Doncaster CAMHS 3

4.4 Themes from complaints

Across the trust, thematically there is a wide variation of categories, with the highest proportion of complaints relating to patient care, see table 6 below.

Table 6 Complaints received by category
Category Number
Patient care 26
Communications 10
Values and behaviours (staff) 10
Clinical treatment 9
Admission, transfer and discharge 6
Prescribing 2
Access to treatment or drugs 1
Appointments 1
Consent 1
End of life 1
Integrated care (including delayed discharge) 1
Trust admin, policies and procedures 1
Waiting times 1

In the patient care category, further analysis shows that the most prevalent sub-category is “care needs not adequately met”, followed by “inadequate support provided’’ which together accounted for 26 individual complaints in the period. See table 7 below.

Table 7, Patient care complaints by sub-category
Sub-category Number
Care needs not adequately met 13
Inadequate support provided 10
Care needs not identified 1
Care pathways issues 1
Failure to provide adequate care 1

An initial analysis was undertaken of data for ethnicity and age. Whilst this was present for some complaints, it had not been routinely collected. Complainants are asked to complete a Diversity and Ethnicity form as part of the investigation process, but responses to this remain variable.

During the year April 2024 to March 2025, we will explore different methods to obtain the data to allow a more robust analysis in relation to demographics. Home postcodes will also be collated. We will then undertake an analysis against our patient population and against the resident population.

4.5 Outcomes of complaints investigations

Table 8 details the outcomes of the 73 complaints investigated in the year April 2023 to March 2024 (as at the time of this report to end August 2023). At the time of this report, the percentage of complaints fully upheld remained consistent with the year April 2022 to March 2023.

Table 8 Outcome of complaints
Outcome April 2023 to March 2024 April 2022 to March 2023
Fully upheld 3 (5%) 3 (6%)
Partially upheld 22 (45%) 25 (46%)
Not upheld 18 (49%) 27 (38%)
Withdrawn 5 (11%) 7 (10%)
Still in process at time of this report 22 11
Total 70 73

4.6 Learning from complaints

4.6.1 What have we learned?

We have focussed upon complaints on both an individual and a thematic basis. We have learned from each complaint made, whether about an individual’s care and treatment, the experience of a care setting or pathway, or an aligned learning about partnership working.

Where learning has occurred involving several agencies, we have connected with “place” and system partners to share learning and reflection.

A specific example of learning from complaints has included: “we have had learning in terms carer support and communication, specifically where people have transitioned from one care setting to another (for examples, inpatient to community teams). We have used this learning to inform listening events and engagement with others to check whether issues are unique or experienced by a wider group of people. This has then informed changes in practice and co-working with VCSE carer focused organisations”.

4.6.2 What changes have we made?

In our effort to listen and learn differently from complaints we have made several changes, and our learning has informed our safety, quality and organisational learning plans for the next year.

An example of change made is: “a review of appointment attendance information and letters, resulting in key changes to ensure communication is more ‘trauma informed’ and supportive of patients who may be experiencing different difficulties and life events that mean attendance to regular appointments with services. This has been a specific learning point about our Talking Therapies services but has had transferable change in terms of our community mental health settings”.

Other examples can be provided on request.

4.7 Performance

4.7.1 Performance against national timescales for complaints handling

The national performance measure for complaints handling is that all complaints must be acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt, this can be verbally or in writing.

64 out of 70 (91%) of complaints have been acknowledged within three working days of receipt within the Patient Safety and Investigation team.

Reasons for a delay may include:

  • questions regarding the need for consent and the complainant’s relationship to patient
  • whether the matter has been or needs to be investigated as a serious incident
  • the time of day the letter is received within the Patient Safety and Investigations team
  • whether the matter can be dealt with as a PALS enquiry

4.7.2 Performance against trust targets for responding to complaints

Of the 70 complaints received in the year April 2023 to March 2024, 22 were still ongoing as at the time of this report (end August 2024) and five had been withdrawn.

Complaints are recorded as withdrawn if:

  • the complainant advises that they wish to withdraw the complaint
  • the complainant has failed to make further contact with the Patient Safety and Investigation team (therefore, the scope or remit of the potential investigation to be undertaken is compromised)
  • consent has not been received

Of the remaining 43 out of 70:

  • 0 (0%) were resolved within 25 to 40 working days (37% in the year April 2022 to March 2023)
  • 1 (2%) were resolved in over 41 to 60 working days (20% in the year April 2022 to March 2023)
  • 42 (98%) were 60 or more working days (43% in the year April 2022 to March 2023)

The trust recognises that this is a significant change from the year April 2022 to March 2023 and acknowledges that this is not the standard of response we would wish to provide to anyone who wishes to complain. The trust is committed to delivering on promise 4, put patient feedback at the heart of how care is delivered in the trust, encouraging all staff to shape services around individuals’ diverse needs, and therefore as part of the complaints recovery plan, we are looking at timeframes for response with the intention that all complaints are dealt with within the agreed timeframes.

Independent stage and further review by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)

For the period April 2023 to March 2024, one complaint proceeded to second stage with the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO). This was the same number as in the year April 2022 to March 2023. This complaint is still with the PHSO, and we await an outcome.

5 Patient advice and liaison service (PALS)

5.1 Patient advice and liaison service data

The number of new PALS concerns received by the Trust has increased to 695 in the year April 2023 to March 2024 from 613 in the year April 2022 to March 2023. However, 27% of these related to concerns about other organisations and providers which are signposted elsewhere.

The table below shows the number of PALS enquiries received by month trust-wide in the year April 2023 to March 2024 compared to the year April 2022 to March 2023.

Table 9 PALS received by month
Month April 2023 to March 2024 April 2022 to March 2023
April 49 41
May 55 34
June 65 51
August 66 45
September 61 48
October 79 43
November 60 53
December 41 45
January 59 68
February 54 61
March 54 79
Total 695 613

5.2 Patient advice and liaison service received by care group

The table below shows the number of PALS enquiries received by care group in the year April 2023 to March 2024 compared to the year April 2022 to March 2023. The physical health and neurodiversity care group and North Lincolnshire AMH and talking therapies care group both showed an increase in numbers of contacts in the year April 2023 to March 2024.

In the physical health and neurodiversity care group, 32 (23% of enquiries in this care group) were regarding ADHD services and 27 (20% of enquiries in this care group) were regarding Wheelchair and Special Seating services. In the North Lincolnshire AMH and talking therapies care group, 13 (17% of enquiries in this care group) were regarding the recovery team and 12 (15% of enquiries in this care group) were regarding Mulberry house.

Table 10 PALS received by care group
Group April 2023 to March 2024 April 2022 to March 2023
Doncaster AMH and learning disabilities care group 132 130
Rotherham AMH care group 93 94
Physical health and neurodiversity care group 111 87
North Lincolnshire AMH and talking therapies care group 87 57
Children’s care group 61 60
Corporate services 20 21
Other organisation 191 164
Total 695 613

5.3 Patient advice and liaison service received by individual services in the year April 2023 to March 2024

The table below shows the number of PALS enquiries received by service in the year April 2023 to March 2024.

Table 11 Number of PALS enquiries by service
Service April May June July August September October November December January February March Total
Community (mental health) 10 15 16 21 17 20 31 19 12 20 18 17 216
Other organisation 17 15 19 22 21 14 20 10 7 17 12 17 191
Community physical health and long term conditions 11 10 8 10 10 17 13 11 6 9 11 9 125
Children’s mental health 5 7 3 3 5 5 3 10 4 1 1 3 50
Acute inpatients (mental health) 1 3 2 3 6 1 6 6 3 1 4 3 39
Corporate services 1 4 2 2 3 2 2 4 1 1 1 23
Physical health (inpatients) 1 3 3 1 1 3 2 3 1 18
Community (older peoples mental health) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 4 2 18
Children young people and families 3 2 1 5 1 11
Acute inpatients (OPMH mental health) 1 3 1 1 6
Total 49 55 52 65 66 61 79 60 41 59 54 54 695
Table 12 Service and wards receiving 10 or more PALS enquiries in the year April 2023 to March 2024
Service Number
CAMHS 45
Doncaster community services (MH) 41
ADHD 32
Wheelchair and special seating 27
Rotherham South CMHT 19
Doncaster Crisis team 14
North Lincolnshire Recovery team 13
Mulberry ward 12
Osprey ward 10

5.4 Category of patient advice and liaison service contacts

Across the trust, thematically there is a wide variation of categories, with the highest proportion of complaints relating to clinical treatment, see table 9 below.

Table 13 shows the top 10 categories of PALS enquiries made, which accounted for 87% of all contacts. Most contacts are regarding clinical treatment 21%. These are followed by communication to or about a Patient, 14% and information request or signposting, 12%. In 89 (14%) contacts, the PALS service was not able to ascertain the category as no further contact could be made with the enquirer.

Table 13 Category of PALS contact
Category Number
Clinical treatment 138
Communication, info to or about patient 90
Info request, request for advice and signposting 78
Access of service 76
Attitude of staff 64
Discharge arrangements 40
Community appointments 35
Medication 30
Medical devices 13
Transfer arrangements 10
Total 574

5.5 Outcome of patient advice and liaison service enquiries

The PALS team follow up on queries at the end of the process to check whether the concern has been resolved, any further signposting required and next steps. The outcomes from the PALS contacts at the end of the process is illustrated in the table below. This demonstrates an effective investigation process, with most concerns raised via this route resolved satisfactorily, and just 19 (3%) being escalated to formal complaints for the year. This is same as in the previous year.

Table 14 PALS enquiries outcomes the year April 2023 to March 2024
Enquiries Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4
Happy with response 100 96 14 137
Concern for litigation 0 0 0 1
Unable to conclude 7 11 10 11
Unhappy with response 3 2 2 2
Serious incident raised 0 1 0 1
MP enquiry raised 1 0 0 1
Formal complaint raised 7 6 2 4
No further contacts received 24 36 31 20

5.6 Performance

The table below shows that 64% of enquires were closed within 10 days.

Table 15 Number of working days to close a PALS enquiry in the year April 2023 to March 2024
Working days Number
1 to 10 425
11 to 20 82
21 to 30 56
31 to 60 72
More than 60 27
Still ongoing at time of report 33

6 Your Opinion Counts (YOC)

Your Opinion Counts continues to be the trust’s primary source of direct experience feedback from patients, families, and carers. It is also the primary means of collecting our responses to the friends and family test question. All YOCs are passed to the relevant team manager to review, respond to (where the person completing the response has asked for a response), share with staff for learning and act on where action needs taking. YOC forms can be completed anonymously so it is not always possible to follow up a specific issue if a negative comment is made.

6.1 Your Opinion Counts data

The number of forms received overall in the year April 2023 to March 2024 has decreased by 301 (20%) from 1490 in the year April 2022 to March 2023 to 1189 in the year April 2023 to March 2024. The trust is currently reviewing the process of receiving and monitoring the YOCs to improve the efficacy of the feedback.

6.2 Your Opinion Counts by care group

Table 16 below shows the number of YOC received by care group. It has not been possible to separate the data for Doncaster mental and physical health care groups prior to February 2024 as the system supporting this data could not provide this. Further changes to the care group structures were made in January 2024 and the system was re-aligned at this point.

Table 16: YOCS received the year April 2023 to March 2024 (change of care group structure in quarter 4)
Care group Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Total
Children’s 47 48 25 47 167
Corporate 0 0 0 1 1
Doncaster 155 215 153 693
Adult mental health and learning disabilities 74
Physical health and neuro diversity 96
North Lincolnshire 56 50 20 83 83
Rotherham 42 30 27 27 27
Total 300 343 218 328 1189

6.3 Your Opinion Counts by category

The comments made on YOC forms are categorised to allow for analysis. A YOC form may have more than one category, and these may be positive, negative or a mixture of both. Table 17 details the top 5 categories of comments made and whether these were positive or negative.

Table 17 Top 5 categories of YOC received in the year April 2023 to March 2024
Category (feedback) Children’s Corporate Doncaster prior to restructure Adult mental health
and learning disabilities
Physical health and neurodiversity North
Lincolnshire
Rotherham Total
Staff of attitude (positive) 126 369 37 42 116 62 752
Staff of attitude (negative) 3 6 1 2 15 27
General comments (positive) 16 176 33 47 57 17 346
General comments (negative) 4 1 7 12
Clinical treatment (positive) 22 1 84 4 2 34 11 158
Clinical treatment (negative) 3 32 1 10 9 55
Communication (positive) 14 31 1 3 9 6 64
Communication (negative) 2 12 5 19
Access to service (positive) 1 2 1 1 5
Access to service (negative) 2 4 1 2 3 2 13

Table 18 shows the total number of YOCs received and whether these were positive, negative or mixed. Overwhelmingly, comments are positive with 90% being positive or mixed comments.

Table 18 Positive or negative feedback in the year April 2023 to March 2024
Quarter (feedback) Children’s Corporate Doncaster prior to restructure North
Lincolnshire
Rotherham Total
Quarter 1 (positive) 41 132 46 24 243
Quarter 1 (negative) 1 3 3 10 17
Quarter 1 (mixed) 5 20 7 8 40
Quarter 2 (positive) 45 189 41 23 298
Quarter 2 (negative) 1 6 3 2 12
Quarter 2 (mixed) 2 20 6 5 33
Quarter 3 (positive) 21 122 17 13 173
Quarter 3 (negative) 4 2 6
Quarter 3 (mixed) 4 27 3 5 39
Quarter 4 (positive) (care group structure change) 45 1
  • Adult mental health and learning disabilities: 72
  • Physical health and neurodiversity: 93
69 17 297
Quarter 4 (negative) (care group structure change) 2
  • Adult mental health and learning disabilities: 2
  • Physical health and neurodiversity: 2
7 8 21
Quarter 4 (mixed) (care group structure change) Physical health and neurodiversity: 1 7 2 10
Total (positive) 152 1 608 173 77 1011
Total (negative) 4 0 17 13 22 56
Total (mixed) 11 0 68 23 20 122
Total 167 1 693 209 119 1189

6.4 Friends and family test

The YOC form includes the required national friends and family test question, but this data is also gathered via SMS in children’s services and via specific comments forms in the talking therapies services. The score from all these sources is shown in table 19 below. These scores are reviewed by the relevant manager in conjunction with any additional comments made by the responder as to why they gave this score. This score may have been given anonymously so it is not always possible to follow up a specific issue if a negative comment is made.

85.7% of respondents scored the trust as either very good or good.

Table 19 Friends and family test: Thinking about this NHS trust overall, how was your experience of the service?
Response Percentage of response
Very good 3121 (67.5%)
Good 841 (18.2%)
Neither good nor poor 252 (5.5%)
Poor 146 (3.1%)
Very poor 206 (4.5%)
Don’t know 55 (1.2%)

6.5 Compliments

The number of compliments recorded by the trust has increased from the year April 2022 to March 2023 by 69% (total of 628 in the year April 2022 to March 2024 and 1058 in the year April 2023 to March 2024). This is mainly due to an increase by the children’s care group reporting of their compliments, for which their reporting has increased by almost 246% in 2023, 2024.

North Lincolnshire adult mental health and talking therapies care group has seen a drop in recorded compliments by 62% and Rotherham adults mental health care group saw a drop of 80%.

It has not been possible to separate the data for Doncaster mental and physical health care groups prior to January 2024 as the system supporting this data could not provide this. Further changes to the care group structures were made in January 2024 and the system was re-aligned at this point. However, overall Doncaster care groups recorded comparatively similar numbers of compliments (351 in the year April 2022 to March 2023 and 355 in the year April 2023 to March 2024).

This system is reliant on staff recording compliments. This will be reviewed during the year April 2024 to March 2025.

Table 20 Number of compliments recorded
Care group April 2023 to March 2024 April 2022 to March 2023
Children’s 671 194
Doncaster (Quarter 1 to quarter 3, April 2023 to March 2024) 184 331
Doncaster adult mental health and LD (Quarter 4, April 2023 to March 2024 41
Doncaster physical health and neurodiversity (Quarter 4, April 2023 to March 2024) 130
North Lincolnshire adult mental health and talking therapies 29
Rotherham adult mental health 3 15
Corporate 0 12
Total 1058 628

6.6 Developments in the year April 2024 to March 2025, next steps

More frontline staff managers and investigators will be attending complaints training during quarters 3 and 4 of the year April 2023 to March 2024.

The use of SMS (text message via mobile phone) had already begun being used in some services and this will be further extended during the year April 2023 to March 2024.

Page last reviewed: December 23, 2024
Next review due: December 23, 2025

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