This is always an unfortunate situation and may be upsetting and quite daunting if it happens to you. The best approach is always to follow our process working alongside Altrix Clinical Governance in a timely and considered manner.
What happens when you have been contacted about a complaint?
A trust will email a complaint to Altrix Clinical Governance (CG) and or another department within Altrix with the necessary information.
Once the healthcare professional has been identified and all relevant information has been collected, CG will contact the member via email, or phone outlining why the complaint was made, also which trust and ward it happened and the date and approximate time.
When a complaint is made a process must be followed to investigate the reason for the complaint and to obtain statements from both the Altrix member and the trust. This process is essential to having a matter closed and where possible to have any restrictions that have been imposed removed, so the member can continue to work in that trust.
What we must consider is why did it occur? And what can be done to prevent this happening again?
A crucial part of this process is for our members to create a reflective situation document.
What is a Reflective Statement Document?
Reflection is how healthcare professionals can assess their professional experiences – both positive and where improvements may be needed – recording and documenting insight to aid their learning and identify opportunities to improve.
Reflection allows an individual to continually improve the quality of care they provide and gives multi-disciplinary teams the opportunity to reflect and discuss openly and honestly. (NMC, 2019)
Once all the information from the trust has been received and discussed with the member, it is essential that the requested reflective statement is completed within a timely manner. A template will often be provided to aid in this process.
It is important that you complete this with as much detail as possible to provide context. Once this has been completed by yourself, this should be then emailed back to CG.
What is the role of Clinical Governance?
Once this information has been received by CG, if there is a need for any further discussion, a follow up phone call will often be made. Upon agreement of both the nurse and CG, CG will then send this statement back to the trust.
Feedback to our member, will depend on the nature of the complaint, but we hope to provide an update to the nurse as soon as we possibly can, after receiving the trust’s feedback, as we realise this will be a stressful time.
Sometimes this process can fall outside of what is considered a timely manner for a variety of reasons, this is usually because more information is required, or further training needs to be completed. However, the aim is to address this complaint as promptly as possible.
What happens when a complaint about your conduct or performance is upheld?
Once a decision has been made by the trust regarding a complaint, this will be shared with Altrix. We will review all the feedback, and in some instances, if they do not uphold Altrix and the trust’s policies as well as the NMC code of conduct, a decision will be made whether the nurse can remain a member of Altrix.
The trust will impose their own restriction or exclusion. Complaints are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, which will consider factors such as the nature and severity. In some cases, this may require Altrix to report the candidate to the NMC, who may investigate the complaint further. All information relating to the complaint will be kept on record by Altrix for future reference as well as for any external requests we may receive.
What if the complaint is not upheld?
In this eventuality the case will be closed and held on record. The member can continue to work with Altrix then return to work at the trust should they wish to do so.
