The Care Inspectorate has today published a statistical bulletin on complaints about care services in Scotland.
The report covers complaints received and investigated between April 2019 and March 2023, and focuses in particular on the most recent year, 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
The statistics show the Care Inspectorate actioned every complaint received and responded appropriately using a risk-based assessment process to satisfactorily resolve complaints as quickly as possible.
The Care Inspectorate received 5,910 complaints in 2022/23, a continuation of the long-term increasing trend in concerns/complaints received.
All complaints are assessed to ensure that they are within the remit of the Care Inspectorate to investigate, to ensure there is sufficient information about the complaint, and to ensure that the complainant wishes to proceed. If not, then these concerns are revoked. In 2022/23, 23% of concerns received were revoked, an increase from 21% in 2012/22.
Any complaints raised which suggest an adult or child is at risk of harm are immediately reported to the appropriate body. Any information that suggests a crime has been committed is immediately referred to Police Scotland.
A total of 4,495 complaints were resolved using the Care Inspectorate’s four resolution pathways. In 52% of these, the information given by the complainant was provided to the inspector for that service to be used to inform and focus future scrutiny activity: 19% were resolved quickly by the service directly; 9% were investigated by the service using their own complaints procedure where the regulator required the provider to investigate; 19% were deemed high risk and were investigated by the Care Inspectorate. *
The regulator upheld 76% of the complaints where the Care Inspectorate conducted an investigation in 2022/23.
Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “It is important that people can resolve any issues they may have with the care they experience, whether this is by contacting the Care Inspectorate, or by raising it directly with their care service.
“Our focus in all areas of our work, including complaints, is on improving the quality of care and outcomes for people who experience care. We do this by resolving complaints quickly and using all the intelligence we gather to focus our inspections as well as the wider scrutiny, assurance and improvement support work we carry out across all care services.
“Everyone in Scotland has the right to good quality care that meets their needs and respects their rights.
“Anyone with a complaint about a care service can contact us on 0345 600 9527.”
The full report can be read here.
*Percentages have been rounded to the nearest decimal place.
The four pathways to reach a complaint resolution are:
Intelligence: Information given to the Care Inspectorate is highlighted to the inspector for that service. This approach would only be used for lower-risk complaints and/or complaints where the Care Inspectorate may not have enough information. This helps inspectors develop a broader overview of concerns about a service, which in turn informs the timing and focus of inspections. For example additional intelligence from one or several complaints may result in the inspector bringing forward a full, unannounced inspection of a service.
Direct service action: where the Care Inspectorate contacts the service and asks them to engage directly with the person making the complaint to resolve the complaint. Typically, this is used for straightforward or simple matters where complainants are unsatisfied with their experience and are happy to have their details shared with the service, and the Care Inspectorate intervenes quickly with a care service to achieve a positive result.
Investigation by the care provider: where the risk assessment suggests the issue is suitable for the complaint to be investigated via the service’s own complaints procedure, the Care Inspectorate obtains consent to share the person’s contact details with the service. Inspectors then contact the service provider and require them to investigate and respond to the complaint.
Investigation by the Care Inspectorate: where a risk assessment identifies more serious complaints, we conduct an investigation.