WHACS

ANNUAL REPORT

2014 - 2015

INTRODUCTION

This report tells you about some of the work carried out by One Voice on the Wolverhampton Health Advocacy Complaints Service (WHACS) contract in 2014/15 and how we performed against the targets we agreed with the Council in our contract with them.
This is our second year of the contract and we continue to support Wolverhampton City residents to have their say about the service they have received from the Health Service. We help them make a complaint if the service was far from satisfactory. All of the work outlined in this report is funded via our contract with Adult Services.

The WHACS Team are pleased to report that in our second year, we have exceeded our expectations and the council’s targets. The continued professionalism of our advocates has been key to securing our successes and this has led to a contract extension for another year.

Throughout the year Judith Stroud Co-ordinator and Laura Gradwell Administration Officer have attended a number of workshops and undertaken Safeguarding training and scheduled to register for a Mental Health Awareness course.

Our target for the year was to support 100 people through their complaints about NHS services. In that time we saw 154 people which is a 54% increase on our target. There were 66 cases brought forward from last year due to their complexity and the involvement of other agencies. We had 4,785 hits on our website which is an increase of nearly 3,000 on the first year.

We had 61 referrals that have covered health care issues in Hospitals including Mental Health, GP’s and Clinics, Dentists, Pharmacy, Chiropody, the 111 and Ambulance service and Prisons. We have had people referring themselves having heard about us from other people, or finding us on the internet in addition to organisations such as Age UK, Healthwatch, Pohwer, PALS and GPs and other health professionals.

Not all referrals lead to a complaint. Some people may just want to talk and get some advice and sometimes they can resolve the matters themselves whether that’s talking to Laura on the helpline, or advocates when they make the first call.

The table below shows how we have performed each quarter against our key performance indicators

Total number of people using advocacy service / Qtr 1 / Qtr 2 / Qtr 3 / Qtr 4 / TOTAL /
Service Users / 61 / 55 / 46 / 62 / 224
Children and young people / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 2
Prisoners / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Receiving information and advice / 9 / 13 / 9 / 17 / 48
Receiving telephone/email support / 9 / 13 / 9 / 17 / 48
Receiving face to face support / 44 / 40 / 33 / 37 / 154
Number of hits to website / 372 / 1079 / 1502 / 1102 / 4785
Number of local resolution meetings attended / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1
Number of cases escalated to the Health Service Ombudsman / 0 / 6 / 1 / 2 / 8
Number of cases referred to other professional bodies / 1 / 0 / 2 / 3 / 8
Number of safeguarding referrals / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1
Number of cases opened / 15 / 20 / 6 / 18 / 59
Number of cases closed / 14 / 0 / 7 / 11 / 32
Cases that have reached a satisfactory resolution / 14 / 0 / 7 / 11 / 32
Cases that do not reach a satisfactory resolution / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Clients receiving initial contact within 5 days of referral / 15 / 20 / 6 / 18 / 59
Clients not receiving initial contact within 5 days of referral / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

STATISTICS

The graph below shows the breakdown of where our referrals came from and the number of cases from different providers.

The largest referral source of 34 is self-referral followed by 10 from Healthwatch, 6 PALS, two equally from our Advocates, the CCG and GP and one each from Age UK, CPN, Healthy Minds, Pohwer and TLC making a total of 61.

We have covered all areas of NHS provision and the chart below shows the percentage breakdown. Our largest areas of complaints covered are hospital at 52% and GP 28% which shows the trends of where our residents are experiencing difficulties.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING

Our Equality monitoring shows a breakdown of data we have collected over the contract year.

The chart below shows female clients being the highest percentage standing at 74% in the graph below.

We can report that 19 service users did not have any impairment and 17 preferred not to say. Those with impairments are reported as 16 physical, three mental health, three with both physical and mental health, two with physical and sensory and one physical, mental health and sensory, and one with sensory. The chart below shows how that looks.

The age range of our residents is between 16 and 65+ across the whole of the range.

Although not everone wishes to tell us their age, we can see that the group where we have the highest number is the age range 45-54.

For those residents who have provided us with information in respect of their religion we can say that Christian stands at the highest number of 28 followed by 15 who prefer not to say, and 10 stated their religious status as none. Four people gave their religion as Muslim, two as Catholic, and one equally as Jehovah Witness and Hindu.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

The complaints process is individually tailored so there is quite a degree of variation in how it is managed and differs for everyone. Some complaints can be dealt with in a couple of weeks when others can take 12 months or more. Ombudsman complaints, because of their technical nature, can be lengthy due to the legal processes.

We are pleased to report that by the end of the year we had a number of successful outcomes in relation t the following:

·  We have supported clients at Local Resolution meetings at New Cross

o  After an accident whilst on the ward where the client sustained injuries. A Root Cause Analysis was carried out as part of resolving a health and safety issue

o  Client’s husband had suffered from lack of compassion and support during a cancer drug trial and other cancer treatments up to end of life. The Head of department met with the client and Co-ordinator to go over concerns and provide closure. Consultant under investigation, no longer works for NHS and now lives in USA. Our client said although she is normally a strong person, she could not have done this without the support of the Advocate and Co-ordinator.

·  We intervened to get healthcare to revisit and restore medical treatment for someone in prison. Other issues faced by inmates have been

o  Medication not being available/out of stock

o  Waiting months to see a GP or dentist

o  GP and dental appointments being cancelled at short notice

·  Complaint to surgery and then to Ombudsman regarding poor dental treatment and injury. Dentist reimbursed dental fee of £49 without having to wait for the Ombudsman to allocate a caseworker. Client says WHACS being involved helped to get the result.

·  There was a mix up where our client was given the wrong medication which was not detected until after 3 weeks of him taking it. The Co-op Pharmacy has put new systems in place so that it does not happen again, and offered to arrange a private medical for him.

·  We requested medical records for a client who resides in a nursing home requiring 24 hour care which the NHS provided free of charge

·  We helped clients make complaints to the Parliamentary Health Ombudsman and further supported them through the Ombudsman review process. Following feedback the Ombudsman no longer has a three month limitation on clients providing additional information for reviews.

FEEDBACK

Service Users who have given us feedback have been wholly positive. Here are some of their comments:

“Thank you for the support. We really appreciate the guidance and time you have spent on our complaint and attending our meeting with the health professionals” AM

“Having an advocate helped me have my say as I wouldn’t have been able to do my complaint on my own” MR

Below is an extract from a letter sent into us from one of our client’s:

“I must say that without the help from Judith and the One Voice team, my complaint would not have been taken seriously enough. The Ombudsman’s office took the steps needed from One Voice and finally upheld my complaint.

I found One Voice very professional, polite, and in my opinion a godsend. We need this team to expand”. BG

PROMOTING THE SERVICE

At the end of our first year, we were proud to start using our new logo designed by Biraj Sharma from Colton Hills Community School. The logo can be seen on all of our promotional material throughout our second year. We have continued with our partnership with this school and other bodies. In this manner we can ensure that citizens feel a sense of ownership with this service.

We have continued our involvement in the community explaining about our advocacy service to a number of individuals and groups which has included:

June 2014 Meeting with local MP.

July 2014 Partnered Healthwatch at the City Show, completing feedback surveys with residents in respect of their experience in GP surgeries and health centres.

September 2014 Meeting with Managers at a Residential Home in Castlecroft.

November 2014 Presentation to Wolverhampton Homes EDSG group

December 2014 Shanti Niketan – Independent Living

February 2015 WVSC Review of Health & Care Sector Investment and University of Wolverhampton

March 2015 Low Hill Community Centre Health & Wellbeing event and Talent Match Black Country Central Hub

We have distributed around 450 leaflets at the various events not including those by Healthwatch at the City Show, mail outs and events.

FUTURE PLANS

We will be continuing to develop the service by attending events, and delivering talks to Community Groups and Residential Homes.