Your experiences of making a complaint at Salisbury District Hospital

What did we do?

A survey was jointly prepared by Healthwatch Wiltshire and SFT. This was sent out to 87 people who had made a complaint to the Trust, which had since been closed. We received 26 responses to the survey in September 2022.

What were the key findings?

Our report reveals that people found it difficult to find information on how to make a complaint and didn't fully understand the role of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) at Salisbury District Hospital. 

We also found:

• People didn’t feel they were kept properly informed of where they were in the complaints process, timelines were not always adhered to, and updates not always provided. 
• There was a lack of signposting to additional support, such as advocacy services.
• Staff sometimes seemed reluctant to take ownership of a complaint.
• People felt disempowered and that they could not challenge decisions made by the hospital Trust.
• People thought that points or questions they raised were not properly addressed.
• Apologies did not feel meaningful or sincere.
• People were not confident that the outcome of their complaint would help to drive improvements.

What happens next?

The results of the feedback show a need for the complaints handling process at SFT to be improved, and we have made a series of recommendations based on this. We will revisit this project later in 2023 to see what progress has been made with the introduction of a new Complaints Handling Policy at the Trust, which is due to be launched in April 2023.