CHILDREN AS COMPLAINANTS IN THE HEALTH AND PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

5 FINDINGS: TRUST COMPLAINTS PUBLICITY

Trusts are required to publicise their complaints procedures. All nineteen Trusts were phoned by a researcher using the contact number for their main switchboard and asked to post out a copy of their complaints leaflet(s). In most cases, the researcher was referred directly on to the particular office dealing with complaints within the Trust. In a significant minority (4/19) the call was transferred to a series of offices before finally reaching an officer willing to post out a complaints leaflet.

All of the Trusts issued their complaints leaflets within ten days of the query being received.

Leaflets were generally well printed using coloured ink on quality paper although in one case the 'leaflet' was only a photocopy of the actual leaflet and was difficult to read. Efforts clearly had been made by Trusts to avoid jargon and leaflets from two Trusts were labelled as "Plain English Approved". Eleven of the seventeen Trusts' Children Order or Wilson leaflets did not contain up-to-date contact numbers either for themselves or for Health and Social Services Councils. This represented a third of total leaflets being out of date in some significant way.

Overall the leaflets followed a similar format explaining the stages in the complaints process and giving details of contact details of complaints officers within the Trusts, the relevant Health and Social Services Council(s) and the Ombudsman. One Trust also sent a leaflet on a Lay Advocacy Service in their area.

Nine leaflets (all those specially targeted at children) concerning the Children Order complaints procedures included a tear-off proforma addressed to the relevant complaints officer and in some cases included pre-paid postage. This good practice could usefully be extended to the Wilson complaints system and to adults as well as children.

Although leaflets contained information on the stages of the complaints procedure and how to access the relevant people, there was very little information on how to actually frame a complaint such as what details to include etc. Inclusion of such guidance would assist complainants especially those inexperienced at dealing with public authorities, such as children and young people.