Complaints Policy

Derbyshire Home from Hospital Support Service – Complaints Policy

 

Purpose

1.1 South Derbyshire CVS (lead partner oh the Derbyshire Home From Hospital Service) aims to provide a friendly, efficient, high-quality service to all its service users. In order to achieve this, SDCVS recognise that individuals must be able to complain if they are unhappy about any aspect of the service provided by SDCVS staff or volunteers.

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1.2 Should negative feedback not be satisfactorily resolved, we provide this procedure to ensure that any questions or problems experienced by our service users with our organisation or its services or products are quickly aired and resolved, and we therefore encourage its use to facilitate this.

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1.3 This procedure is not contractual but aims to set out how we normally deal with such issues.

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1.4 South Derbyshire CVS is committed to actively promoting equality and anti-discriminatory practice. It seeks to prevent discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, disability, race, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.

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Scope

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2.1 This policy is available for any service users but may also be used by any member of the public who may wish to raise any issue with us.

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2.2 A complaint may cover the standards, performance, decisions, or actions of one or more of our employees/workers, or may relate to our products or services, or to our organisation generally.

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Stages of the procedure

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3.1 Should an informal conversation not result in a resolution that the person complaining is satisfied with, the following procedure should be used:

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Stage one

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Details of the complaint should be sent in writing to the following address:

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South Derbyshire CVS, The Hive, Top Floor Unit G, Sharpe’s Industrial Estate Alexandra Road, Swadlincote DE11 9AZ

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Alternatively, this may be emailed ‘for the attention of the Senior Management Team’ via: Info@sdcvs.org.uk

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Full details of the complaint, the preferred method of contact, any information regarding any previous attempt to resolve this matter, and the preferred solution should be included.

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Upon receipt of the written complaint this will be allocated to a designated member of the Senior Management team.

 

3.2 We will acknowledge any complaint as soon as possible, giving an indication of how long we need to investigate the matter. We aim to provide this acknowledgement within a maximum of 2 working days. We may need to contact the person raising the complaint for further details or to investigate further.

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3.3 At the end of our investigations, we will confirm the outcome to the complaint. This will include further details of who to write to if the outcome is not considered to be satisfactory. If no response is received within 14 days of sending our outcome, we will assume that the issue is resolved. However, if the problem arises again, individuals are advised to contact us again.

 

Stage two

 

4.1 We hope our initial response will be satisfactory, but if someone remains dissatisfied, they have the right to appeal.

In the first instance, individuals are advised to raise this to member of the Senior Management Team who conducted the investigation at Stage One. Their contact details will be included in the Stage One outcome letter.

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They will discuss the situation further before reporting an appeal to the Chief Executive who will consider the complaint, make any further investigations necessary and make recommendations for future action. We will confirm the outcome of this further investigation in writing and aim to respond within 28 working days.

 

4.2 If at any stage, the complaint relates to the CEO, please refer to the Whistleblowing Policy. South Derbyshire CVS has a designated Trustee for Whistleblowing

 

Disciplinary matters

 

5.1 If a complaint prompts an investigation into the behaviour or actions of one or more of our employees, we will use our disciplinary procedure to fairly deal with the matter. This may mean that details of the complaint are used as evidence in disciplinary proceedings.

 

Effectiveness of this procedure

 

6.1 We expect our employees to respond promptly and courteously to any form of complaint and to ensure that any potential dissatisfaction on the part of a service users and the general public is reported and dealt with efficiently.

 

6.2 Any concerns relating to the application or effectiveness of this procedure should be reported to the CEO (or Whistleblowing Trustee) who will investigate further and take any appropriate action to ensure this procedure remains effective.

 

Learning and Service Improvement

 

7.1 The CEO will update Trustees at each Board meeting, regarding the number of formal complaints received. Any reoccurring themes or risks will be addressed at the earliest opportunity.

 

7.2 South Derbyshire CVS is committed to learning from complaints and where appropriate, making changes to the way we do our work, as a result.

 

Further information

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Please refer to the ‘Meet the team’ page on our website. Meet the Team | South Derbyshire CVS (sdcvs.org.uk)

 

Review & Monitoring

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The policy will be reviewed every two years or sooner if there are legislative changes.

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Minor changes to the policy such as job titles resulting from organisational changes can be updated at any time.

 

Review completed December 2023 - Hollie Benton

 

Policy published January 2024

 

Next review due December 2025