Complaints Officer

Company Description

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this. 

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisations. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

Job Description

NHS Band 3 Salary:  £25,760 - £27,476 per annum

Hours Per Week:  Full time 37.5 hrs

Contract Type:    Permanent

Job summary

• To provide an excellent standard of customer care support to patients and relatives who have raised concerns about the treatment provided at the Trust.
• To work as part of a team on behalf of the Chief Executive in achieving the statutory requirements of complaints handling within required deadlines.
• To help provide a high standard of administrative support to the complaints team, including maintaining database system (Datix), scanning and photocopying.
• Provide advice and support to patients, relatives, visitors, MPs, advocates, external NHS organisations and Trust staff on the handling of formal complaints and PALS concerns.

• Provide support in the production of timely and accurate reports on formal complaints, identifying any emerging trends or themes, and ensuring these are escalated to the Complaints Manager.
• Provide advice and support to all visitors and dealing with telephone and email enquiries.

Specific Core Functions

• Provide support in the day to day management of concerns and formal complaints, identifying the areas/departments of the Trust involved, clarifying the key questions and concerns, drafting various letters and referring to the formal complaints process when appropriate.
• To prioritise new cases for action and ensure that patients and/or relatives are kept informed of the progress at all times.
• To act as a point of contact for the Trust’s complaints team for patients, relatives, visitors, MPs, advocates, external NHS organisations and Trust staff.
• Support the team to ensure that national targets with respect to complaint handling are met (acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt and within agreed timescales).
• Assist with the collation and supply of information (e.g. copies of files, chronology of events) as and when requested by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) if local resolution has not been achieved.
• To provide advice, support and assistance to clinical and service managers in the investigation of complaints including clarifying concerns and the outcome the complainant wishes to achieve.
• Assist with arranging local resolution meetings between patients/relatives, medical/nursing staff and the complaints manager. Support the complaints manager as necessary with these.
• To ensure accurate maintenance of database (Datix system) and computer (G drive) files to a consistently high standard allowing easy retrieval of information relating to all cases.
• Support with the provision of accurate and relevant Datix information to ensure there is a robust system for producing accurate and timely reports and comply with Trust Information Governance policy and Data Protection Act.
• To work with Trust staff to encourage and promote a culture of openness, honesty and learning from feedback from service users, carers and the public.

For full job details and person specification please refer to enclosed job description.

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to GCSE level (or equivalent)
• NVQ Customer Services (Level 3)
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office, Excel and databases

Experience 

Essential

• Experience of working in a busy customer service environment or complaints handling environment
• Experience of working within an NHS or Social Care environment
• Excellent verbal, telephone, and written communication skills
• Excellent administrative skills

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Ability to work using own initiative, deal with competing priorities and have a high level of accuracy in recording information
• Excellent verbal, telephone, and written communication skills
• Excellent administrative skills
• Knowledge of NHS Governance and Risk Management
• Knowledge of Data Protection Act or Freedom of Information Act legislation
• Demonstrate tact and diplomacy when dealing with highly sensitive issues and maintain confidentiality
• Time management skills with the ability to prioritise own workload
• Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands

Additional Information

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.   

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs. 

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026