Support - Useful publications, guides & links

ICAS self help pack

Publications and policy

NHS documents and programmes

Copying letters to patients (external link)
The Copying Letters to Patients initiative is a government objective which originated in the NHS Plan: "letters between clinicians about individual patient's care will be copied to the patient as of right".

Clinical governance (external link)
Clinical governance is the system through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care.

Expert Patient Programme (external link)
The Expert Patients Programme (EPP) is a NHS-based training programme that provides opportunities to people who live with long-term chronic conditions to develop new skills to manage their condition better on a day-to-day basis.

Improvement Leaders’ Guide to Involving Patients and Carers (external link)
Modernisation Agency. A summary of current thinking and practical advice for improvement.
PCT Competency Framework , National Primary and Care Trust Development Programme (Community, patient and public involvement is the 7th competency

Patient choice (external link)
Strategy to give patients more choice about how, when and where they receive treatment.

Patient and public involvement - a brief overview (4 November 2004) (external link)

Patient and Public Involvement in Health : The evidence for policy implementation. (external link)
A summary of the results of the Health in Partnership research programme (March 2004)

Health in Partnership research programme website (external link)
Health in Partnership is a research programme supporting greater patient, carer and public participation in healthcare decision-making. The programme consists of 12 studies.

NHS in Wales
Signposts (2001) and Signposts Two (2003) A practical guide to Public and patient Involvement in Wales
Signposts was an overarching document on policy and practice: Signposts Two is mainly about tackling the challenges of developing PPI practice into a more mature form – moving beyond the baseline to achieve better practice and performance.

NHS in Scotland
Involving people website (external link)
Provides extensive resources, publications and training materials relevant to UK.
Patient Focus and Public Involvement report (2001) (external link)

NHS Inquiry reports

Learning from Bristol. The report of the Public Inquiry into children’s heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984-1995 (external link). London: The Stationery Office, 2001

Committee of inquiry: Independent investigation into how the NHS handled allegations about the conduct of Clifford Ayling (external link). London: Department of Health, 2004

Committee of inquiry to investigate how the NHS handled allegations about the performance and conduct of Richard Neale (external link). London: Department of Health, 2004

Shipman Inquiry Fifth report - Safeguarding patients: Lessons from the past - proposals for the future (external link). London: The Stationery Office, 2004 (Command Paper CM 6394)

Safeguarding Patients (external link) (February 2007) DH response to the Shipman Inquiry

Making amends. A consultation paper setting out proposals for reforming the approach to clinical negligence in the NHS (external link). London: Department of Health, 2003

Standards for better health. London:(external link) Department of Health, 2004

Social care documents

Getting the best from complaints: Consultation on the changes to the Social Services Complaints Procedures for children, young people and other people making a complaint.(external link) London: Department for Education and Skills, 2004

Learning from Complaints: Consultation on Changes to the Social Services Complaints Procedure for Adults.(external link) Department of Health. October 2004

An independent voice: Proposals for the independent review stage of the new social services complaints procedure - a CSCI consultation document. (external link)London: Commission for Social Care Inspection, 2004

Voluntary sector compact (external link)
The national Compact is an agreement between the voluntary and community sector and government in England to improve their relationship for mutual advantage. Local Compacts aim to do this locally between the sector, councils and other local public bodies. Over the past five years, five good practice codes on volunteering, consultation, black and ethnic minority community organisations, funding, and community groups have been developed.

Department of Health and NHS guides

DOH Report The First Year of ICAS: 1 September 2003–31 August 2004 (external link)

Handling complaints in the NHS - good practice toolkit for local resolution (external link)

Healthcare Commission guide “Unhappy with how your complaint has been dealt with by the NHS?” and complaint review request form (external link)

NHS guidance on confidentiality and data protection. (external link)

DOH consent site (external link)

Health service guidelines on bereavement (external link)

4Ps resources for policy guidance

Patient and public involvement in the NHS: overview - guide updated September 2004 (external link)

Section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act (2001) and Local Compacts (April 2003) (external link)

Extending patient CHOICE programme (May 2003) (external link)

Primary Care CHOICE 2005 programme (September 2003) (external link)

Health Information materials and sites

A Guide to Producing Health Information (external link)
University of Aberdeen Health Services Research Unit
This web-based guide give useful ideas and practical advice for producing good quality information materials

How to Write Medical Information in Plain English (external link)
Plain English Campaign 2001

NHS Direct Online (external link)
NHS Direct Online has links to other information providing organisations and patient interest groups

Best Treatments (external link)
BMJ and NHS Direct site: gives the clinical evidence for what treatments and drugs work for particular conditions

DIPEx: database of patient experiences (external link)
DIPEx is a registered charity based in Oxford University's Department of Primary Care. It was founded by the former editor of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin and a GP who was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago. The site answers questions about what a diagnosis means and what the person should do about it.

Dr Foster (external link)
Dr Foster is a commercial site with DOH and professional bodies' approval. It provides information on which hospitals are best at treating certain conditions, how long patients can expect to wait, which questions patients should be asking their doctor, and who are the specialist doctors across a range of more than 8,000 conditions.

Dr Ann’s Virtual Surgery (external link)
Award winning teenager health site written by two doctors – Dr Ann McPherson GP, and Dr Aidan Macfarlane, a paediatrician. Both of them have specialised in looking after the health of young people for many years. The site is interactive and lots of topics are covered.

Embarrassing Problems (external link)
Winner of the Global Pharmaceutical Award for Best Online Consumer Education Initiative. Straight-talking advice from a UK doctor on a number of problems such as spots, sexual problems, hairiness, breast problems, wind, bad breath, anal problems and other 'embarrassing' problems.

Data on written complaints in the NHS

http://www.ic.nhs.uk/news/press/pr301105

Data on written complaints in the NHS

The Health and Social Care Information Centre annual data on Written Complaints in the NHS 2004 – 2005.

The survey provides a count of the number of written complaints received by the NHS, what the complaints were about and how the NHS handled them. It covers written complaints about Hospital and Community Health Services, Family Health Services, including dentists, opticians and PCT administration, as well as NHS Direct and walk-in centres.

Main findings:

• There was practically no change in the number of written complaints about hospital and community services between the two years (90,413 written complaints in 2004/2005, compared with 90,122 in 2003/04).
• The speed of dealing with these complaints improved over this time and 74.7% were concluded within 20 working days, compared with 69.1% in the previous year. At the end of the year 1.5% (1,398) were outstanding compared to 4.6% (4,172) the previous year.
• There was practically no change in the number of written complaints about family health services received in a practice or surgery (43,407 written complaints, compared to 43,347 in 2003/04).
• Complaints about the PCT administration of family health services accounted for only 1.6% (715) of these complaints. This fell from 3.4% (1,455) in the previous year.

The data is available on the Health and Social Care Information Centre http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/wcomplaints .

Selection from the findings:

Service area	Total complaints	Concluded within 20 working days % and number		Concluded outside 20 working days	Still being pursued	Not stated
Total	90,413	74.7%	67,558	21,246	1,398	211
Hospital acute services:   Inpatient	29,715	69.5%	20,643	8,371	583	118
Hospital acute services:   Outpatient	28,230	79.4%	22,425	5,410	341	54
Hospital acute services:   A&E	6,749	72.9%	4,920	1,722	88	19
Elderly (geriatric) services	1,544	65.0%	1,004	507	33	-
Mental health services	8,542	76.9%	6,571	1,842	129	-
Maternity services	2,488	69.6%	1,731	709	35	13
Ambulance services	2,507	82.7%	2,074	418	15	-
Community hospital services	1,532	73.0%	1,119	372	34	7
NHS Direct	26	30.8%	8	17	*	-
Walk in centres	280	80.7%	226	51	*	-
Other community health services	7,396	77.4%	5,721	1,559	116	-
PCT commissioning	1,404	79.5%	1,116	268	20	-

Profession	Number of complaints1
Total	90,066
Medical (including surgical)	40,762
Dental (including surgical)	762
Professions supplementary to medicine	4,514
Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting	19,308
Scientific, Technical and Professional	1,670
Ambulance crews (including paramedics)	2,201
Maintenance and Ancillary staff	1,925
PCT Administrative staff / members (exc FHS admin)	1,196
Trust Administrative staff / members	7,619
Other	10,108

Subject of complaint	Number of complaints
Total	90,066
Admissions, discharge and transfer arrangements	4,564
Aids and appliances, equipment, premises (including access)	2,439
Appointments, delay / cancellation (outpatient)	10,957
Appointments, delay / cancellation (inpatient)	3,420
Length of time waiting for a response, or to be seen:  NHS Direct	122
Length of time waiting for a response, or to be seen:  Walk in centres	297
Attitude of staff	11,497
All aspects of clinical treatment	32,496
Communication / information to patients (written and oral)	8,419
Consent to treatment	277
Complaints handling	78
Patients privacy and dignity	1,028
Patients property and expenses	984
PCT commissioning (including waiting lists)	1,108
Independent sector services commissioned by PCTs	163
Independent sector services commissioned by trusts	110
Personal records (including medical and / or complaints)	1,149
Failure to follow agreed procedures	597
Patient's status, discrimination (e.g. racial, gender, age)	137
Mortuary and post mortem arrangements	93
Transport (ambulances and other)	1,770
Policy and commercial decisions of trusts	1,024
Code of openness - complaints	12
Hotel services (including food)	2,028
Other	5,298