Patient Relations and Privacy-The Grievance and Complaint Process Patients have the right to notify staff that they are unhappy with an aspect of the care that has been provided. The steps to addressing complaints and grievances are: 1. Any patient or family complaint should be immediately addressed by the employee who receives it. If it is an outside call, every attempt should be made to identify what unit or department they have the concern with and to forward that call to the individual within that department who is best able to assist the caller. Often these issues are just a miscommunication or an unmet need that can quickly be remedied. An example of a complaint that can be quickly remedied is a need for a prescription refill,
Communication in the healthcare field may be a little different for some people. Healthcare requires the communication to have a purpose, and that purpose is revolved around a person’s needs. A patient with good staff communication during
Is this clearly a case when the call should be passed on to one of the registered nurses or the medical social worker?
Individual’s rights also need to be promoted in order for holistic support to be provided by professionals. All adults in a health and social care environment such as a care home have rights to their confidentiality, respect, choice and to have their individuality taken into consideration. They also have the right not to be discriminated against, to receive equal and fair treatment and also to have access to the policies and procedures of the health and social care organisation. They should know when and how to make a complaint should they feel there care need are not being met. Children in care settings also have promotion of rights. These individuals should always have the right to be heard and it remain confidential, to have their wishes considered, be provided with stimulating activities and the right to be safe and secure from harm.
We all want to be treated with dignity and it is a very important part of an individual’s life. Working in the health and social care profession it is important to help people maintain their dignity so they can keep their sense of self-respect and self-worth. All health and social care professionals should be sensitive and aware of the needs of people and service users. Just because a person has dementia, they still need to be given a choice and not assume that they cannot make a choice. Not everybody is the same, there are different levels of dementia, so getting to know the service user is vital to challenge discrimination. We also need to make sure that the service user or their families are aware of the complaints procedure. Having policies and procedures are put in place and that staff are up to date on their training.
Were all the American grievances really justified, or were the British actually being more reasonable than most Americans have traditionally believed?
As well as having informed consent about a certain procedure or whether or not they want to provide their medical information for research. The other part of this provision is to make sure your patient is being provided with safe practice. In the past I have questioned care that was given to my patient that did not follow our hospitals policy. In this instance it was how fast I was ordered to infuse blood on a patient with a history of CHF. In this case the doctor was unaware of the change of patient status or policy and applauded me for speaking up. This is not always the case. In other instances you may need to report patient care providers to the appropriate personal to advocate for your patient and as of yet I have not experienced this first hand but know of occurrences elsewhere. It could be as small as a medication that is ordered in the wrong dose or route. We are the voice of the patient and are here to help promote their safety. This provision is in place to protect the patient and public from possible harm.
Promotion of rights All individuals in a health and social care environment have rights to confi dentiality, choice and to have their individuality acknowledged and respected. In addition, they have a fundamental right not to be discriminated against, to practise their cultural and religious beliefs, and to receive equal and fair treatment at all times. All individuals have a right to voice their opinions and receive effective communication. They must have access to the policies and procedures of the organisation that is providing their care, and know how to make a complaint if they feel that their needs are not being
Patient’s fifth right is for respect and care without discrimination from all members in the healthcare field. The right to confidentiality and privacy of their health information is sixth on the bill of rights and addresses their right to read, copy and request corrections to their medical record, to talk privately their medical providers and be assured their healthcare information is secure. The seventh right is for patients to have a “fair, fast, and objective review of any health care complaints” (Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, 1998). And finally our eighth right as patients are our responsibilities we have as the consumer of healthcare services. Patients need to comply with the orders of the medical provider so they can get and stay well. As a patient you must treat other patients and healthcare workers with respect, pay your medical bills in a timely manner, and abide by your selected healthcare plans coverage. As patients become more involved in the total healthcare process they increase the success of their treatment while assisting in lowering associated costs without a reduction in the quality of the healthcare they receive.
Every organisation has policies and procedures, and they must be set out where anyone who wishes to read them can so do if they wish to. This is promoting the individuals rights, as they will be aware of the policies and procedures and will know if something is not done to the required standards and also anti- discriminatory practise as everyone is entitled to read these and take any action if they think the policies are not met. Advocacy is also another way of promoting rights because if someone is not aware of all their rights then an advocate may be used to speak on behalf of that individual, otherwise they may not be receiving all the rights that they are entitled to. An advocate can be anyone, a trained professional to a friend or family member, but they have to understand they are not expressing their own views and opinions; they are speaking on behalf of someone else. As policies and procedures are always changing health and social care staff have to have updated training on them. The same with new technology the staff are introduced to. Equality, diversity and rights legislations are also constantly updated so staff must be kept informed of these changes. By law all settings should have complaint procedures; these will be inspected when the setting is audited. The complaint procedure does vary between different settings
There has always been a need for conflict resolution on the job. The grievance and arbitration process is one way for employees to be heard when conflict on the job arises. The grievance and arbitration process is also a way for employees to obtain some type of satisfaction at the end of the grievance process. Having representation by the union often guarantees an employee a fair, just, and timely grievance process. However, not all employees feel that way when they are not a represented the union. The grievance process can mean different things to each individual employee and usually no two complaints are normally about the same type of issue.
It is important that the patient is aware not only of their rights, but of their individual responsibilities.
21. Report any unusual or major changes in your patient’s health, cleanliness, physical care, actions and
The patient has the right to voice grievances and suggest changes in service or staff without fear of restraint or discrimination.
1.1 When going into a call the first thing that should be done is to get all the materials that you need together in order to provide care. For example, if someone is bed ridden and you are changing their pad then you will need to get the clean pad, carrier bag, toilet roll, baby wipes, towel, cream if applicable and usually the slide sheet ready. By not having everything ready you will have to stop what you are doing and go and get things. The individual during this time is rolled on their side and no doubt in some discomfort and delaying the proceedings to go and get things only increases this discomfort. After providing care all materials
The second method of redress is going through NHS England which is in place for patients that have tried to resolve the situation with the staff that are involved or using the PALS team, if this cannot be resolved then a formal complaint needs to be made where the NHS England supplies two different addresses which the patient can use to complain to. The first stage is Local resolution where they recommend the patient complains to the provider or the commissioner of the health service within 12 months after the event or when the patient became aware of the event while this time if a patient want support with their complaint then the NHS England provides The patient with an independent complaints advocacy service to assistance with complaining. The patient can complaint directly to the NHS England as they can complain to the provider or the commissioner by online complaint form, telephone, email or letter without going through the GP surgery. If the patient is not happy with the response then they are addressed with the second stage where is contact to the Health Service Ombudsman who would investigate the patients complaint. (England-nhs, 2014)