Pictured: Members of the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust Quality and Safety Unit
Open, formal complaints to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s (ELHT) hospital and community services have reached their lowest number since records began over a decade ago.
New figures reported last week show East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust currently has 48 formal complaints under investigation and is on target to reduce this number further.
ELHT Director of Nursing Christine Pearson said: “At ELHT, our staff put patients first and the vast majority of patients are happy with the care and treatment they receive.
“Key to the significant improvement in complaint performance has been the work of our staff, in particular Divisional Quality and Safety Teams and the central Customer Relations Team.
“The progress we’ve made in improving the patient and family experience and reducing the time it takes to resolve a complaint is particularly impressive, bearing in mind that many of our wards and services are seeing record numbers of patients.”
The latest good news follows a 52 per cent reduction in overall complaints achieved back in 2016 and is the direct result of Trust staff responding faster to issues before they escalate to become formal complaints.
ELHT Associate Director for Patient Experience, Meg Davey says the Trust takes all complaints seriously and that positive feedback from patients is on the rise.
“Every day we see wards and departments responding quickly and effectively to prevent small issues escalating into formal complaints,” said Meg.
“Our Customer Relations Team respond to concerns speedily, passing these on to wards and departments quicker. This allows staff to act on any negative issues as soon as possible, in most cases while the patient is still with us.”
There are lots of ways patients can tell East Lancashire Hospitals about their care whether it’s talking to hospital staff, emailing complaints@elht.nhs.uk or sending suggestions using Facebook and Twitter (@EastLancsHosp).