Complaints Policy

1. INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

This document sets out The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Charity (RWTC) policy for the handling of complaints and the procedure to be followed by those who wish to make a complaint. The policy reflects our commitment to the Fundraising Regulator.

We recognise that occasionally people may be dissatisfied or concerned about their interactions with the RWTC or its fundraisers, and we hope that problems can be reconciled between the parties concerned. If not, then we will deal with any complaint promptly, thoroughly, impartially, and sympathetically. All complaints will be dealt with in strict confidence.

Fundraising is performed by the RWTC and selected third parties on behalf of the Charity and this policy will apply equally to complaints directly concerning to RWTC and those fundraising on its behalf.

This policy also aims to offer redress to substantiated complaints and to enable us to revise and review our practices and correct any shortcomings that are within our control in response to concerns.

2. DEFINITION OF A COMPLAINT

A complaint is a report, either written or verbal, from a member of the public or a staff member of the Trust.

A complaint may only relate to the work and activities of the Charity and its fundraisers and will occur where we have failed to meet your expectations. For example:

• Failure to respond to your enquiries or acknowledge your donation.
• Failure to act with appropriate professionalism and/or to an acceptable standard or quality.
• Failure to fulfil statutory or contractual responsibilities; and
• Unhelpful or discourteous staff or volunteers

Complaints related to the delivery of treatment and care by The Royal Wolverhampton NSH Trust are not covered by this policy. All such complaints must be made to the Trust using its own complaints procedure.

All complaints should be registered within one month of the event leading to the complaint or of you becoming aware of a cause for complaint. However, we recognise that each case needs to be judged individually, and for complaints that fall outside of the time limits, the Charity may exercise its discretion to apply the complaints procedure.

3. CONFIDENTIALITY AND ANONYMITY

You are entitled to remain anonymous if you prefer, however if you give us your name and contact, we can feedback to you following investigation.

Be assured that if you do provide your personal details, these will be kept fully confidential, in accordance with the GDPR, and only be shown to people who need to see them in order to investigate your complaint.

4. ADVOCATES / REPRESENTATIVES

If you prefer to make a complaint through an advocate or representative, we are happy for them to do so, if they know full details relating to the case. If someone else writes the complaint on your behalf, you will normally be asked to sign their report to confirm that the contents are accurate and true.

5. INFORMAL COMPLAINTS

If an informal complaint is made (i.e. verbally, bringing a matter to our attention but not wanting to make a formal complaint), we will respond verbally within seven working days, either in a face-to-face meeting or telephone conversation. This will be recorded for our records, but we will not give you a written response (unless you specifically ask for one). All formal complaints will receive a full, written response. In either case, your complaint will be taken seriously and dealt with swiftly.

6. HOW DO I MAKE A COMPLAINT

Both formal and informal complaints should be sent by post to the

Charity Office
New Cross Hospital
OPD 1, Location A27
Wolverhampton
WV10 0QP

or by email to rwh-tr.fundaisingteam@nhs.net

In either case they should be clearly marked as a complaint. You are able to telephone us on 01902 694473 but we might ask for you to confirm your complaint in writing.

7. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

A Complaints Officer will acknowledge your complaint within seven days of the Charity receiving it and may wish to discuss it with you as part of their investigation. A formal response will be sent within fourteen working days of your complaint being received. If this is not a final report, then we will indicate progress so far and a likely timescale within which you will receive a full response.

Our full response will include facts that we have been able to establish through our investigation, whilst also identifying any conflicts of interest. During our investigation we will talk to all parties and any witnesses to any incident. We will then outline whether we believe the complaint to be justified and any proposals to address upheld concerns.

8. IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY WITH OUR RESPONSE

We hope that we will resolve the issue satisfactorily for all parties concerned. However, if you are dissatisfied with the response, you receive or the way your complaint has been handled, you can request that it be raised with Trustees. The Trustees will then rule on the complaint at a meeting of the Board of Trustees, and you will receive a full written response from the Chairman of Trustees within seven days of that meeting.

If you are still not happy then you may contact the Charity Commission or the Fundraising Regulator for further advice.

9. HOW COMPLAINTS WILL BE RECORDED AND USED CONSTRUCTIVELY

All complaints we receive are be recorded in a Complaints Log which will include:

• Date complaint received.
• Date of incident complained of.
• Brief description of incident.
• Preferred method of contact.
• Nature / category of complaint.
• Date investigation concluded.
• Outcomes, actions or learning that results.

A summary of the log will be reviewed periodically by the Board of Trustees to assess the nature and extent of complaints made in the period, how they were resolved, and to discuss any actions required to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future.

The Charity will always engage with complaints constructively and aim to make necessary improvements or put in place required training in order to prevent similar issues occurring in the future.

10. MALICIOUS COMPLAINTS

The Charity will accept any complaint in good faith. However, complaints made on the basis of discrimination, or malicious or vexatious complaints will not be tolerated. In order to protect its employees, the Charity will investigate such complaints in a manner so as to expose such malicious intent. This will not apply to genuine complainants.

11. REVIEW

This policy will be reviewed by the Trustee Board periodically (approximately every three years) as part of the on-going cyclical review of all Charity policies.