Public Health complaints policy

The Gateshead Public Health Team is responsible for ill-health prevention, health improvement, health protection assurance, public health advice and has an overarching objective of reducing health inequalities in Gateshead. Delivery of our Health and Wellbeing Strategy Policy objectives is key for us in achieving these functions. 
The ambition of our Public Health Team is to use our strengths, skills, resources and assets to tackle inequalities, improve health and wellbeing, and enable people in Gateshead to thrive. 

Public Health welcomes complaints, compliments and comments from its customers and recognises that things can go wrong occasionally and people may not be happy with the service they have received.  

Complaints are valuable to Public Health as they: 

• give customers the opportunity to provide feedback on its services 
• give Public Health the opportunity to put things right where mistakes have been made 
• allows Public Health to improve its services and make sure mistakes are not repeated 

This policy sets out Public Health's approach when dealing with customer complaints in relation to matters relating to its public health functions. The aim of this policy is to provide guidance and expectations when investigating and resolving formal complaints or issues raised by the council's customers, or their representatives. 

The policy is also applicable to service providers that provide public health functions on behalf of the Council, such as the NHS and third sector organisations.  

Public health complaints and how they are managed are governed by the NHS Bodies and Local Authorities (Partnership Arrangements, Care Trusts, Public Health and Local Healthwatch) Regulations 2012 (the Regulations) which came into effect in April 2013. 

If a complaint is about a the Children Social Care Service, Adult Social Care services, general council services, housing matters, or an elected official, it will be dealt with under a separate policy. Refer to the Council's Corporate Complaints and Compliments Policy for further information. 

When dealing with a complaint under this policy, the council's Public Health team will follow these guiding principles: 

• we are committed to ensuring everyone knows how to complain and how a complaint will be handled by the council     
• the council will make reasonable adjustments where necessary so that our customers can fairly access our complaints process
• we will ensure that complaints are addressed fairly and consistently across the council 
• we will ensure that complaints are monitored, and we will learn from our mistakes to improve our services
• improve customer satisfaction and confidence in the way the council handles complaints and provides its services
• provide customers with the opportunity to provide feedback on its services  
• gives the council the opportunity to put things right where mistakes have been made. 

This policy will be published online and anyone can ask for a printed copy from a council-maintained centre.  

This policy deals with the exercise of the council's public health functions, services provided on the council's behalf in relation to its public health functions and any other function for which the Director of Public Health has responsibility, including the annual report produced by the Director of Public Health. These functions may include, for example: 

• sexual health services 
• cessation of smoking services  
• oral health promotion  
• 0-19 services (school nurse and health visitor provision)  
• substance use services  
• healthy start vitamins 
• NHS health checks  
• active travel provision 
• better health at work award 

Gateshead Council often contracts external agencies or bodies to provide its public health services. These are known as service providers. If you are unhappy with a service provider, you can make a complaint directly to them or to the council.

If you make your complaint directly to the service provider, we will agree the response and any proposed actions with the service provider before their response is sent to you.

If you make your complaint to the council, we will ask whether you consent to details of the complaint being sent to the service provider. If you do, we will send details of your complaint to the service provider as soon as possible. When your details are sent to the service provider, the council may consider whether it would be more appropriate for the complaint to be investigated by the service provider. If the council is satisfied that it would be more appropriate for the complaint to be investigated by the service provider, we will ask you whether you consent to this. If you do consent, we will notify you and the service provider. The service provider will then handle your complaint in accordance with the regulations. 

Gateshead Council defines a complaint as:  

'An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals.' 

This may include, but is not limited to:  

• the council failed to provide a service  
• the standards of the service were not acceptable  
• the council provided the service in an unfair or discriminatory manner 
• policy or procedure was not followed correctly
• unreasonable behaviour or conduct by a council employee towards an individual 

A person does not have to use the word 'complaint' for it to be treated as such. 

Complaints can be made in the following ways:  

• by submitting a complaints on our website, this is our preferred method and will guarantee the quickest response
• by emailing [email protected] 
• by telephone on 0191 433 3000
• by writing to Alice Wiseman, Director of Public Health, Gateshead Council, Regent Street, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 1HH
• in-person at the Civic Centre and any council-maintained centre
• through your local councillor or Member of Parliament

Who can complain 

The regulations set out who can make a complaint about Public Health services: 

• a person who receives or has received public health services from Gateshead Council  
• a person who is affected, or likely to be affected, by the action, omission or decision of Gateshead Council

A complaint can be made by a person acting on behalf of a person who: 

• has died 
• is a child 
• is unable to make a complaint themselves because of physical incapacity or lacks capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 
• has requested the representative to act on their behalf 

If a representative makes a complaint on behalf of a child, the council will not consider the complaint unless it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for the complaint being made by a representative instead of the child. If the council is not so satisfied, we will notify the representative in writing and state our reasons for the decision.  

If the complaint is made on behalf of a child or someone who lacks mental capacity to make the decision, the complaint will only be considered if the council is satisfied that the representative is acting in the best interests of the person they are representing. If the council is of the view that the representative is not acting in the person's best interests, the representative will be notified in writing along with reasons. In such cases, the complaint can be referred to the .

Anonymous complaints  

It is helpful if complainants say who they are so that the council can get in touch with them to clarify issues and give feedback on the outcome of their complaint. However, the council believes everyone has the right to complain and anonymous complaints will be thoroughly investigated, if there is enough information in the complaint to enable us to make further enquiries. 

However, we may not be able to fully investigate an anonymous complaint if it is not possible to establish the impact on the complainant, or if it is not possible to identify whether there are any conflicts of interest or other ongoing actions such as appeals or court action.

The council will not consider the below under the Public Health complaints process: 

• a complaint by a local authority or a service provider
• a complaint by an employee of a local authority or a service provider about any matter relating to that employment
• a complaint which is made verbally and resolved by the next working day
• a complaint that has previously been made and resolved in the manner set out above
• a complaint that has previously been investigated under the Regulations
• a complaint that is being or has been investigated by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman  
• a complaint about an alleged failure to comply with a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
• any complaint about a scheme established under section 7 or 24 of the Superannuation Act 1972

Time limit for making a complaint  

A complaint must be made within 12 months after the date on which the matter occurred or the date on which the complainant became aware of the matter.  

The council has a discretion to extend this time limit if the complainant had good reasons for not making the complaint within the time limit and it is still possible to investigate the complaint effectively and fairly. 

The process

There is one stage under the Regulations for Public Health complaints. If a complainant remains dissatisfied after stage one, they may refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  

When a complaint under this policy is made, the council will acknowledge this within three working days.

Offer to discuss

When the council acknowledges the complaint, the council will offer to discuss with the complainant, at a time suitable to them, the manner in which the complaint is to be handled and the period within which the investigation is likely to be completed and when the response will be sent.  

If this offer is not accepted, the council will determine how long the investigation will take and when the full response will be sent to the complainant.

The investigation 

At the beginning of the investigation, the council will appoint an investigating officer who will contact you to ascertain the issues and the desired outcome. The investigating officer will keep you informed, as far as reasonably practicable, as to the progress of the investigation. 

The limit for responding to a complaint

The regulations allow for 6 months for a complaint to be investigated however the council will endeavour to send a response within 30 days. In any event, the response will be sent as soon as the investigation is complete.   

If it is not possible to resolve the complaint within 30 days, the investigating officer will contact you and explain the reasons for this. The timescale may need to be extended for a number of reasons.  

If a response is not sent within the agreed timetable, you should contact the Chief Executive of Gateshead Council. 

Response

The full response will include an explanation of how the complaint has been considered, the conclusions reached, any remedial action that may be needed, whether any action needed to be taken has been taken or will be proposed. The response will also provide details of the complainant's right to take the complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  

To repeat, If you make your complaint directly to the service provider, we will agree the response and any proposed actions with the service provider before their response is sent to you.  

If you make your complaint to the council, we will ask whether you consent to details of the complaint being sent to the service provider. If you do, we will send details of your complaint to the service provider as soon as possible. When your details are sent to the service provider, the council may consider whether it would be more appropriate for the complaint to be investigated by the service provider. If the council is satisfied that it would be more appropriate for the complaint to be investigated by the service provider, we will ask you whether you consent to this. If you do consent, we will notify you and the service provider. The service provider will then handle your complaint in accordance with the regulations. 

Redress, remedy and compensation will reflect the extent of any and all service failures and the level of detriment caused to the complainant as a result. 

The below is a non-exhaustive list of potential remedies to a complaint: 

• apology 
• acknowledging where things went wrong 
• explanation, assistance, reasons 
• taking action if there has been a delay 
• reconsidering or changing a decision  
• amending a record and/or adding a correction or addendum to a record 
• financial remedies 
• changing policies, procedures or practices 

In a response to a complaint, the council will clearly set out what will happen and by when. The council may agree this action with the complainant where appropriate.  

In awarding compensation, the council will consider whether any statutory payments are due, if any quantifiable losses have been incurred as well as the time and trouble the complainant has been put to and any distress and inconvenience caused. 

If the proposed remedy cannot be delivered, for whatever reason, the complainant should be informed of the reasons for this and provided with details of an alternative remedy and of their right to refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Service can assist complainants throughout the life of a complaint. This affords the complainant the opportunity to engage with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman dispute support advisors. 

Complainants should be provided with advice, at the point a complaint is acknowledged, regarding their right to access the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Service, and not just at the point the complainant has exhausted this complaints policy.  

This is an independent service set up by the Government to investigate complaints about councils. The complainant can refer their complaint at any time during the course of an investigation by the council. However, it is usually expected that the complainant will exhaust the council's procedure before involving the Ombudsman. 

The council will fully co-operate with the ombudsman's investigation and consider any remedies proposed. The Ombudsman will decide whether or not the council has acted unfairly or if a complainant has suffered an injustice as a result of maladministration. A report on the Ombudsman's findings will be sent to the council. 

If the council is considering a complaint under this policy and it appears that the complaint has aspects to it which should be dealt with by another local authority or service provider, then the council will co-operate with that local authority or service provider to ensure the complaint is handled properly and that there is a co-ordinated response to the complaint.

The council also welcomes compliments and comments about its services and/or staff. A compliment or comment can be made in the same way as a complaint (online, in-person, email, telephone, or in writing). Once received, the compliment or comment will be logged and acknowledged by staff. The service and/or staff member will then receive the compliment or comment. They can be left anonymously.  

If you conduct yourself in an unreasonable manner during a complaint, the council may exercise its discretion to limit contact with the council. Further guidance can be found in Annex 1 of the corporate complaints policy.

Where a complainant persists in pursuing a complaint, which has no reasonable basis, or when the council has already taken reasonable action in response to the complaint the council will exercise its discretion as to when a matter will be regarded as closed and will not be reinvestigated. 

The council will maintain a record of the following matters in order to monitor these arrangements: 

• each complaint received 
• the subject matter and outcome of each complaint
• whether a report of the outcome of the investigation was sent to the complainant within the response period specified 

An annual report will be prepared with the aim of summarising how many complaints it has received and which of these were well-founded, as well as how many complaints have been referred to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The report will also set out the subject matter of the complaints the council has received and whether there are any matters of general importance arising from the complaints. Where any action has been or will be taken to improve services as a result of complaints, these will also be set out in the annual report.