Responsibilities of complainants
As a service user of the Trust, you have the right to expect the best possible services. If we fall short, you have the right to complain. When you complain, we ask you to follow these guiding principles:
- Provide adequate details of your complaint
- Set out clearly the cause for dissatisfaction
- Provide accurate details and supporting correspondence or other relevant supporting evidence
- If there has been a delay in submitting your complaint explain the cause of that delay
- Explain what you believe to be a satisfactory outcome
- Treat our staff with good manners, politeness and respect at all times
- Accept that we will act fairly and promptly in dealing with your complaint
- Be reasonable and open minded and listen to reasonable explanations and be realistic. It may not always be possible to achieve the outcome you want
Expected Behaviour
The Trust recognises that it can be challenging for complainants and services alike to manage complaints well, and that there can be high emotional content involved. It is important that anyone involved in a complaint feels adequately and appropriately supported.
To assist everyone involved in managing the complaint effectively, there should be a clear understanding of the expected behaviours from the outset, to ensure constructive dialogue aimed at resolving the concern.
The frequency of a service user’s contact with the Trust can also hinder the consideration of their complaints and the Trust’s ability to provide a quality service.
The Trust believes it is important to distinguish between people who make different complaints because they genuinely believe things have gone wrong and people whose behaviour is unreasonable or abusive. As such each complaint must be considered on its own merit with the aim of resolving it as quickly as possible.