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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To receive, record and investigate / facilitate investigation of all formal complaints on behalf of the James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.        
• To be prepared to deal with difficult situations face to face and by telephone and to deal appropriately with very upset and challenging complainants. 
• To prepare the Trust’s response to formal complaints. This will include investigating the issue, deciding upon the right response, with guidance from the Head of Patient Experience, for the Trust and drafting the response on behalf of the Chief Executive and meeting with complainants and staff as appropriate. When required to attend and take formal notes of complaint meetings.
• To maintain a data-base of Complaints/PALS and provide regular written reports for the Board of Directors, Safety and Quality Governance Committee and other Governance Committees, Divisional Managers, Heads of Departments and other Senior Managers identifying trend analysis detail and appropriate remedial action as necessary and key learning points as required.
• To ensure an effective PALS service is available throughout the Trust via line management responsibilities. 
• To contribute to the development and delivery of a Trust wide strategy for Patient Experience and Engagement.
• To encourage staff to see the complaints system as part of operational management. To identify faults in the system that may lead to complaints, and encourage managers and clinicians to take action to prevent a recurrence. 
• To work collaboratively with colleagues corporately and within the Divisions to embed the recommendations from the Francis, Berwick, Keogh, Ombudsman and Clwyd reports thereby continuously improving the service provided to complainants.
• To attend Corporate and Divisional Clinical Governance/Complaints meetings, informing the group of new complaints and reporting progress on current complaints; information on trends and horizon scanning.
• To advise and support any referrals to or investigations by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. To ensure recommendations from Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman are responded to within the timescales.
• To work closely with external agencies in their support of complainants including ICA, POhWER, HealthWatch and HOSC.
• To assist in the continual development and implementation of associated Trust Policies and Procedures.
• To work with all team members of the Patient Safety and Quality Department, Matrons, Clinical and Non-Clinical staff to ensure safe systems of work and learning are in place for the delivery of patient care and to act as Line Manager for staff within the Complaints and PALS team.
• To continually seek feedback on the service provided by the PALS and Complaints team both internal and external. 
• To be prepared to assist in any other duties when requested by the Chief Nurse.