Introduction
All complaints are managed in line with national guidelines, reflecting our commitment to providing patients, carers, and families with clear avenues to seek advice, request information, raise concerns, or lodge complaints regarding Trust services. Our complaints policy, website, posters, and leaflets comprehensively outline the mechanisms for raising concerns, ensuring people are confident their voices will be heard and their issues addressed with seriousness.
The Trust’s complaints process is designed to be responsive and tailored to the needs of those who use our services. Our procedures are fully compliant with the NHS Complaints Regulations (2009) and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) NHS Complaint Standards (2022).
Feedback is received through various channels, including letters, telephone calls, emails, text messages, and social media platforms.
We actively encourage individuals to speak directly with staff involved in the patient’s care about any concerns, as this often facilitates prompt resolution without the need for a formal complaint. This approach, referred to as Local Issue Resolution, aims to resolve matters immediately or within a maximum of ten working days. Feedback at this stage is recorded electronically using InPhase, documenting the nature of the concern, the outcome, actions taken, and any learning identified.
We recognise that not all issues can be resolved immediately, and at times individuals may wish to pursue a formal complaint. Complaints are managed through either an ‘Early Resolution Complaint’ or a ‘Formal Complaint’ pathway, as determined locally by the Complaints Team. Adhering to the principle of ‘investigate once and investigate well’, we provide complainants with a transparent and honest written response detailing any learning and demonstrating that their concerns have been taken seriously and thoroughly reviewed.
This report provides an overview of Local Issue Resolution and Complaints activity during the 2025/26 period.
What our data is telling us
- 917 concerns were dealt with locally and 698 were managed as a complaint.
- This is 256 more than the previous year.
- 99% of Complaints were acknowledged within 3 working days
- Our highest category related to Care and Treatment followed by Communication Issues and Assessment.
- The biggest number of concerns related to Durham, Tees Valley and Forensic Care Group.
- 51% of the concerns related to our Adult Mental Health Services. 56% related to Community based services.
- 86% of Complaints were completed within the originally agreed timescales.
- There were 58 complaints whereby we agreed with the complainant.
- 15% of complainants accepted our invitation to discuss the complaint response further or attend a meeting.
- 115 concerns were brought to our attention by an MP
- We received 27 contacts from the Ombudsman during the financial year.
Learning from complaints
Complaints give the Trust a vital and direct insight into the quality of the services we provide and can be a quick way to identify what improvements we can make.
Where learning has been identified as part of the complaint investigation this is outlined in full within the written response letter to the complainant. An action plan is developed with the respective team which outlines any learning and what actions can be taken to address the areas for improvement.
Organisational Learning
- Learning from Complaints feeds into the wider Trusts Organisational Learning Group which has a 12-month work plan based on 12 themes.
- Learning is disseminated via clinical networks, fundamental standards, briefings where appropriate to ensure that learning feeds into existing improvement work.
- During 2025/26, themes explored in this forum included medicines management, physical healthcare, clinical effectiveness and personalised care, and our people and culture.
Learning Themes from Complaints
- Our highest area of learning related to Clinical Effectiveness and Personalised Care and related to Assessment and Treatment, Pathways and Personal Safety.
- Communication with patients, with families and between services was our second highest area of learning.
- Our People and Culture was our third highest area of learning and related to Staff Engagement, Staffing and Training.
Improvements in Complaints Handling
A comprehensive end‑to‑end review of the Trust’s complaints handling arrangements was undertaken during 2022 and 2023, resulting in significant changes to the way complaints are managed across the organisation. To assess the impact of these changes, a range of performance and quality measures was introduced and has been routinely reported since December 2023. These measures have been updated to reflect performance during 2025/26 and are used to inform ongoing service improvement and the continued development of the Complaints Handling Service.
What we have found:
- The number of concerns reported to the Trust increased in 2025/26. How these were managed reflects our vision to resolve issues as early and locally as possible, with most handled locally (56%), followed by Early Resolution Complaint (38%) and Formal Complaints (21%).
- Performance continues to improve, overall compliance with agreed response times increasing to 86% up from 69% in 2024/25.
- A small increase was seen in the number of formal complaints progressing to a Final Stage Review; however, this remains within normal and expected variation.
- Timeliness of internal processes improved further, with approval times for formal complaints reducing from an average of 7 to 6 working days. While some variation between care Groups remains, no speciality exceeded the 10-working day standard. Final sign off continues to be completed within an average of 4 working days.
- The Trust strengthened its focus on learning, identifying 584 learning points from completed complaints in 2025/26 compared with 408 in the previous year. The number of actions signed off as completed also increased, from 326 to 360.
- There was a slight increase in the number of open Ombudsman cases, reflecting both higher complaint volumes and the extension of Ombudsman signposting to all complainants.
- Positive feedback continues to be received from both staff and service users regarding their experience of the complaints service.
Feedback received
- I just wanted to say, well done for a thorough response. Staff Member
- A huge thank you for managing a very complex complaint. Not only have you listened to and given compassion to a frustrated family, but you have also been very thoughtful in listening to the team. You have heard and had some very difficult conversations. Your kindness and care have been thorough, clear and compassionate, and you have taken considerable time in endeavouring to meet the complaint detail in full. Staff Member
- Thank you for the response to our complaint. I am very grateful that the Trust has responded in such detail which is appreciated and also wish to express thanks for responding so speedily. Family Member
- Thank you for your email and or all the support you have provided throughout this process. We really appreciate everything you have done to help move things forward. Thank you again for all your help and support, it has made a huge difference to us. Family Member
In year development
- Training in Complaints Handling is now offered to all staff across the Trust.
- We have introduced a survey that complainants can complete to share their experience of the complaints process. This will be used to inform ongoing future developments
Next steps
- We would like to find more meaningful ways of getting the service user voice, perhaps an expert by experience approach to reviewing the complaints that people raise.
- We also can see that some of our letters do not always show the understanding we would expect and we are currently focussed on this.
