Chapter 2 - Relationship between a complaints resolution process and quality human service

Often, people with disability and their families do not have high expectations of services. Indeed, people using services sometimes believe that they should be grateful for any services they do receive.

A customer focused organisation understands the expectations of the people using their services. They also understand that the extent to which those expectations are met is essential to how people feel about the services that are provided.

To explain this further, if people’s expectations exceed what the organisation is able to, or can afford to, deliver this can create issues. In this scenario, either the service level needs to increase or people’s expectations have to be better managed. Perhaps promotional material, website content, staff training etc. need to be reviewed to determine why expectations are higher than service delivery?

A complaints resolution process is an organised way of responding to, recording, reporting and using complaints to improve the service to people with disability. It includes procedures for people to make complaints and guidelines for staff to resolve complaints.

An effective complaints resolution process will:

• create a second chance to provide service
• identify areas for improvement
• provide opportunities to strengthen public support for your organisation, and
• assist in the planning and allocation of resources.

An effective complaints resolution process has two key components. First, the specific complaint must be resolved in a way which is respectful, responsive and accountable. Second, data must be captured to provide feedback about the system and processes. Often complaints are an early warning of an issue that may be of concern to a number of other people using services.

Tip

There is no point having a complaints resolution process if staff (or people using services) are not aware of how it works nor had any input into its development. (Queensland Ombudsman, 2008)

The bus story

Several families had concerns about a bus driver who collected their sons and daughters for a day program. One of them raised this concern with the disability service provider but nothing was done. A few months later the bus was involved in an accident and it subsequently emerged that the driver had his licence suspended for dangerous driving some months beforehand.

This is an example where one complaint not only reflects the concerns of others but can also be an early warning sign of more significant problems. As will be discussed later, only a small percentage of those dissatisfied with a service make a complaint. Consequently complaints should be seen as the tip of the iceberg. In this way complaint data can help to determine service deficiencies that may require corrective action, as well as service strengths that may require further support. Complaints often have a ‘root cause’, not just a ‘tipping point’. Root causes can include: recruitment processes, organisational communication, staff training, policies, processes, guidelines etc. Tipping points are usually the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’. The issue that caused the person to make the complaint may be the result of a build-up of dissatisfaction with your organisation.

It is no longer sufficient to determine if the complaint is justified or not from the organisation’s point of view as it is almost certainly justified in the view of the person making the complaint. Given the reluctance many people feel towards making a complaint there is a need to make people feel comfortable raising their concerns. Organisations can also use the complaint process to follow up how people found the complaints process separate from the actual outcome of the complaint. One way of approaching this is to ask people who have made a complaint what worked and what did not work about the complaints process. This can provide helpful information to improve the complaints system. It is also important to seek feedback from those who have not made a complaint, as they may have different issues with the process.

Complaints resolution is just one way of obtaining feedback from people using services. The satisfaction levels of people using services can be measured via a range of other methods. This could include surveys, suggestion boxes or focus groups, as well as informal events where people using a service have the chance to mix with staff of the service so they can raise issues they might not otherwise raise through more formal complaints processes. In selecting approaches for obtaining feedback from people using services you may need to consider the appropriateness of the method.

A thematic analysis of person-centred plans may serve to highlight trends in the types of assistance and support people using services are seeking from your organisation. This may serve to identify areas for improvement.

Satisfaction surveys can also be an effective means of gathering useful data to identify areas of service strength and potential improvement (Huson, 2008). One disadvantage with some satisfaction surveys is that they can be lengthy, reducing the return rate and adding to the analysis costs. They also do not always provide targeted information for the organisation on how it can improve.

Another methodology called the Net Promoter Score (NPS) seeks to determine behaviours rather than attitudes, and specifically draws out information based on whether people using services are likely to talk positively to others about the organisations they receive services from. This approach groups consumers into broadly three categories. There are those who are loyal customers, who keep receiving service from the organisation and actively promote it to others. Then there are people who are passive, who are satisfied but unenthusiastic and would easily change services. Finally there are the detractors, who are unhappy customers trapped in a bad relationship. The key questions posed are:

Rate from 0 (Not at all likely) to 10 (Extremely likely) whether you would recommend the organisation to someone you know.

What is the primary reason for the score provided?

What is the most important improvement we could make to improve your score?

Then by subtracting the detractors (those who scored 0 – 6) from the promoters (those who scored 9 –10) an NPS% can be formulated (Reichheld, 2006).

Thought

In promoting choice it can be helpful to have a decision making agreement which outlines how the person communicates and this information is then shared with others.

Tip

Inform people where to complain

• Avoid long complicated forms that discourage complaints
• Use forms that clearly indicate to people making a complaint what they need to tell you when lodging their complaint
• Be responsive – acknowledge complaints quickly, establish target times for stages of the complaint process and let people know what to expect
• Find out what the person wants you to do about the problem, be clear about the remedies you can offer and do not make promises you cannot keep
• Give personal and specific replies – a stock standard reply that doesn’t address their issues, may make things worse
• Treat people as you would like to be treated – do not pass the buck – but if you need to refer the complaint to someone else or further review is available internally or externally make sure you give the person who made the complaint full details
• Let people who have made a complaint know about any improvements that have been made as a result of their complaints and thank them for their feedback.

Adapted from Queensland Ombudsman, 2008 (Communication fact sheet 3)