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December 2021-January 2022 Issue 138
INDEPENDENT PRACTITIONER TODAY
£12.50
OneWelbeck: Where doctors are the equal partners Doctors who are investors in a unique unit reveal why they got involved n Page 28
The business journal for doctors in private practice
In this issue
The window to private doctors
What independent practitioners need to know about the Private Healthcare Information Network P12
What drives patients to adhere to advice? A look at the work of Bupa’s behavioural insights team P14
Get off to a good start in 2022
Jane Braithwaite shows how to give your business a fresh start with a strategic plan P24
Complaints code to give doctors a say By Robin Stride A revised code of practice for com plaints management in private practice gives independent consult ants more say during investigations into patients’ grievances. The Independent Sector Com plaints Adjudication Ser vice (ISCAS) revamp, effective for new cases notified from January 2022, aims to promote a just and learning culture where complaints are posi tively welcomed. With complaints in the private sector heading for record levels this financial year, the organisation says complaints need to be investigated thoroughly and fairly – with inde pendent services giving patients fair and accountable responses. ISCAS director Sally Taber told Independent Practitioner Today: ‘What we’ve found is organisations don’t always take comments from all staff on a particular matter of complaint, including consultants, so we want to ensure we get com ments from all involved in the com plaints. ‘Frequently, one of the criticisms is that the consultant should have
In association with
ISCAS’s new code of practice written a statement as well. Our hope is organisations will take on board that it is not just their own staff but consultants with practis ing privileges, and physios, for example, as well. ‘Handling a complaint takes time and that’s why they have to get it right in the first place.’ Covid-19 has, in many cases, led to delays in processing complaints documentation due to staff sick ness, furlough, isolation and work ing from home. It has been a
frustrating time for adjudicators, Ms Taber said. The vast majority of providers are ISCAS subscribers and from last April to November received 200 heads of complaint: complaints handling 52, consultant medical care 40, clinical and non-medical/ nursing 21, finance (mostly billing problems) 21, discharge 20, accom modation 19, consent 14, and administration 13. Ms Taber said: ‘Learning from complaints and making note of how complaints are handled are important. There are still a lot of consultants working in consortia/ groups who haven’t taken notice of ISCAS because they don’t subscribe. ‘But to have the satisfaction of an external review stage for the patients they treat is very impor tant otherwise they are operating a closed culture which can be a breed ing ground for patients’ concerns.’ Complaints about non-subscrib ers to ISCAS emerge when their dis satisfied patients approach the body for help only to find their pro vider has not signed up to the code so the complaint cannot be taken further.
Its new streamlined code, replac ing a seven-stage process with four used in the NHS by the Parlia mentary and Healthcare Services Ombudsman, is as follows:
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Promoting a just and learning culture
‘Seeing complaints as an opportu nity to develop and improve ser vices and people, acknowledging when mistakes occur or things go wrong and being held accountable for them, learning from complaints, and acting on lessons learned’. Ms Taber said: ‘The biggest issues we have are still consultant com plaints and handling. Often the complaints are around cosmetic surgery outcomes. Doctors have often not seen complaints as an opportunity to learn from how they have done things. ‘We are going to be breaking down the categories that we analyse so we can have some more details. If the organisation is not using the complaint code correctly, then there is a learning culture for them to develop to pass on to consult ants.’ ➱ continued on page 4