Complaints, Feedback and Whistleblowing
Complaints, Feedback or General Comments
Netherclay House is committed to providing good quality, personalised service, but sometimes things may go wrong or you may not be satisfied.
If you feel that we have done something wrong, have neglected to do something we should have done, or have not treated you or a loved one in a caring, professional manner, we would be glad to hear your feedback and comments.
From your feedback we are able to continuously improves our service. Equally, if we are doing something well, tell us and we will work to make that aspect of our service even better.
Our promise:
- We will take all complaints seriously
- We will investigate them thoroughly
- We will inform the complainant about the outcome of our investigations
- If we have made a mistake we will put it right
- We will keep a record of your complaint
Complaints Procedure
If a resident, relative or visitor feels that there is cause for complaint, this should be discussed with the Person in Charge. If the matter is unresolved ask for the complaint to be passed on to a Director.
Useful Contacts
Age Concern is always available to support and give advice. They provide an advocacy service and have considerable experience and knowledge of the rights and needs of the elderly. Netherclay House would be happy to help arrange an Age Concern advocate for you.
Age Concern – Tel: 01823 345610
Care Direct (Social Services help and information line) have considerable experience and will be able to provide links to the right people.
Care Direct – Tel: 0345 155 1007
Care Quality Commission regulates and inspects care services.
CQC – Tel: 03000 616161
Inspection Reports
Netherclay House is inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The latest inspection report is available at Netherclay House and on the CQC website.
CQC regulates and inspects care services, see Useful Contacts section for contact details and link on our home page which will give you online access to our inspection reports.
Monitoring and Quality
Netherclay House monitors and ensures quality in two main ways: an internal quality assurance system and procedures and external feedback, control and assessment.
Internal Quality Monitoring
The quality of our service is measured through regular audits. These audits involve periodic measurement of what we do, or what other people say we do, against an ideal set of performance indicators. Our measurements are based on information from regular customer satisfaction surveys, as well as direct comments and feedback.
We keep a compliment and complaint log – All complaints will be investigated and where required or warranted a written response will be sent out to you.
We keep an accident book for both service users and staff.
External Quality Monitoring
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates and inspects care services. For a copy of the most recent report on Netherclay House from CQC you can ask in the house or check the report online.
Whistleblowing
Our full wistleblower policy is available for easy access to all staff.
Staff have a duty to raise concerns about the harm or the risk of harm, to residents, colleagues or the general public. Netherclay House promotes open, transparent cultures, which encourage staff to act on and report any concerns about practices that fall below acceptable standards. Any member of staff who witnesses or suspects abuse by another member of staff should report the matter without delay to their supervisor or manager. The manager will accept responsibility for the actions that follow and will assure the whistleblower that they have acted correctly. Any such reports will be treated confidentially unless there are overriding—eg legal reasons—for disclosing their identity.
If the staff member does not feel confident or able to report in the first instance to the manager the “whistleblower” might need to take their concerns to a more senior manager or the registered person. We also have an anonymous answerphone dedicated to whistleblowing: 07514669754
Of course, any staff member who thinks that their concerns are not being or might not be properly responded to or addressed, should report their concerns to an outside authority. This could be the police, the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Authority or the CQC.
Again, Netherclay House will not penalise or victimise any staff member who responsibly reports their concerns in any of these ways.
