Savoy Ventures Services
Savoy Ventures Services
Quality & Governance
Duty of Candour Statement
Every healthcare professional working for Savoy Ventures must be open and honest with patients when something goes wrong with their treatment or care which causes, or has the potential to cause, harm or distress.
This means that our staff must:
• Tell the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family) when something has gone wrong;
• Apologise to the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family);
• Offer an appropriate remedy or support to put matters right (if possible);
• Explain fully to the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family) the short and long term effects of what has happened.
Our staff must also be open and honest with their colleagues, employers and relevant organisations, and take part in reviews and investigations when requested. Health and care professionals must also be open and honest with their regulators, raising concerns where appropriate. They must support and encourage each other to be open and honest and not stop someone from raising concerns.
The Duty of Candour is common across healthcare professions, but it is recognised that different health professions and their regulators work in different ways. Savoy Ventures will work with the Private Ambulance Services and with the other regulators to ensure that standards promoting Candour are appropriate to practice and consistent with other health practices.
Name: Brian Wren
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Date: 4th January 2019
Complaints Procedure
Savoy Ventures Limited (SVL) works extremely hard to ensure we provide a first class service to our partner NHS trusts, however we do understand that on occasion the service doesn’t meet the expectations of our patients. Every comment or complaint is considered as a stepping stone to providing that service and is therefore given the utmost attention by our Quality Assurance Team.
If you feel you have not received a satisfactory level of service from us we ask that you please inform us so that we can review your complaint, investigate and report back to you along with the action plan to allow us to take steps to ensure the incident doesn’t occur again and therefore improve the service we provide.
SVL recognise the need for our procedure to be user friendly and therefore we have ensured the procedure is a simple one.
How do I make a complaint?
In conjunction with our NHS Trust Partners SVL have a strict complaints procedure that enables the complainant to log any issues they have with the service easily.
All complaints are dealt with confidentially. Primarily you are encouraged to forward your complaint via the PALS system with the Trust this way your complaint is logged with the Trust to ensure a timely and organised response time:
However we welcome direct contact and to this end you can make a complaint in 4 different ways
By phone, a member of staff will take details. The number is 01322 389393 and is a 24 hour line. All calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes.
In writing, please address all complaints to:
Quality Assurance Manager
Savoy Ventures Ltd
Stone Castle
Stone Castle Drive
Greenhithe
DA9 9XL
In person at the Savoy Transport Desk (this is not available at all hospitals); a member of staff will take details and forward to the Quality Assurance Department
By email to complaints@savoyventures.com
What is a complaint?
A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction whether justified or not. We welcome feedback, both negative and positive. Normally if it is a criticism of something you feel can be improved or changed then this will be treated as a complaint.
How does the process work?
• You will need to contact SVL using one of the 4 ways of registering your complaint
• Your complaint will be logged by a member of our QA Team and given a specific reference number
• The complaint will then be acknowledged either via telephone or email within 24 hours which starts our 21 day response procedure
• Our QA Manager will issue the complaint to the relevant team member (TM) for investigation and request a response within 14 days to allow for review
• The relevant TM will instigate the investigation process.
There are several types of complaint and so the investigation process for each differ slightly however the following gives the basis of the process
Complaint about time related service:
• The TM will contact the relevant control room manager and request the booking docket
• This docket will furnish the TM with all relevant information concerning the journey including collection times, driver details, associated collections and any other relevant information
• The TM will then interview, either formally or informally, the relevant control room operator to find out why such a complaint has been received
• Further interviews may be required with drivers or transport desk operators to establish the cause of the complaint
• The process will then be reviewed by the QA Manager for a formal response, via the Trust (as is our Contractual obligation) by way of written response
Complaint about drivers/personnel:
• The TM will contact the relevant control room manager and request the booking docket
• This docket will furnish the TM with all relevant information concerning the journey including collection times, driver details, associated collections and any other relevant information
• The complainant will be asked to provide detail by way of statement of the incident or complaint for review.
• As the issue is staff related we are now obliged to hand the investigation over to our Human Resources department who will then interview, either formally or informally, the relevant control room operator to find out why such a complaint has been received
• The driver involved is then interviewed formally by our HR Department for a statement of fact concerning the event
• Following collation of said information HR are then required to suggest a remedial action for the incident, this could be by way of sanctions, driver suspension or even dismissal in cases of proven misconduct or alternatively by way of exoneration dependent on the findings of the investigation.
• The process will then be reviewed by the QA Manager for a formal response, via the Trust (as is our Contractual obligation) by way of written response
Complaint about incident or accident:
• The TM will contact the relevant control room manager and request the booking docket
• This docket will furnish the TM with all relevant information concerning the journey including collection times, driver details, associated collections and any other relevant information.
• The complainant will be asked to provide detail by way of statement of the incident or complaint for review.
• As the issue is staff related we are now obliged to hand the investigation over to our Human Resources department who will then interview, either formally or informally, the relevant control room operator to find out why such a complaint has been received
• The driver involved is then interviewed formally by our HR Department for a statement of fact concerning the event
• In the event of vehicle accident our Fleet Manager will review all data from our fleet tracking system and feed back to HR, this data will include speed limits, breaking capacities etc
• Following collation of said information HR are then required to suggest a remedial action for the incident, this could be by way of sanctions, driver suspension or even dismissal in cases of proven misconduct or alternatively by way of exoneration dependent on the findings of the investigation.
• The process will then be reviewed by the QA Manager for a formal response, via the Trust (as is our Contractual obligation) by way of written response
Response to repetitive incidents :
SVL undertake “trend monitoring” as part of our complaints procedure which ensures when we a repeatedly encountering incidents we can identify them and put an “action plan” in place to ensure we eradicate the problem area
Trend monitoring is based over unspecified lengths of time as the incident itself requires assessment and in the more severe cases the monitoring process would be significantly shorter.
When dealing with a “trend” the investigation processes previously noted are also implemented to formulate an action plan.
The action plan will issued at Director Level for implantation and monitoring and will be reported back to the Trust for comment/review
Please note the information collected during our investigation is often private and confidential and therefore not subject to public release
Who will reply and when?
Your complaint will be handled quickly and efficiently by the Quality Assurance Department. Your complaint will be acknowledged within 24 hours of receipt and you should expect a full response within 21 days of receipt.
The full response will be issued via the Trust and not directly from SVL unless we are specifically instructed to do so
What if I do not receive a reply?
You should contact the Trust primarily however, we are happy for you to contact our Quality Assurance Department within Head Office and the complaint will be tracked and an explanation will be given.
What if I am not satisfied with the response?
You should contact the Trust primarily however, we are happy for you to contact us directly to explain why you are not happy, we will then respond, via the Trust, to bring the issue to a satisfactory conclusion.
In the event that the response you receive being inadequate in your opinion, then there is a right of appeal which will be elevated at Director Level with SVL for further investigation.
Appeal will instigate a further 21 day response period.
What happens if I do not want a response?
All of the above processes will be undertaken and the complaint will be kept on file for 12 months.
Can I complain to the NHS trust?
As mentioned before, Yes, this can be done through the PALS service at the hospital in question.