Complain up, not down

Ever thought about it? People tend to complain down, not up.

I work in the nhs. I'm the first to admit that there are problems with the service, but, most of us do our best to make sure patients are well looked after.

I find that when there are problems, with the service, nurses will complain to ward admin staff, doctors will complain to nurses, when the solutions to most of these problems lie with higher management. So people should complain upward, not downward.

Is this simply a problem for the nhs, and, if the trend were to be reversed, would some of the current problems be able to be resolved?

In my view, senior management should take more responsibility for ensuring that the service provided meets the need of the most deserving patients.

Current targets are far too blunt an instrument. In Accident and Emergency, no distinction is drawn between the waiting times for genuine emergencies and mere palliative treatment. The same can be said for other nhs targets. I'm sure that this is not a problem confined to the nhs, but one which spreads across the public services.

What are your views?

Re: Complain up, not down

some NHS Manager roles have changed, at one time there were bed managers who dealt with admissions, now they've been replaced by typists who don't have a medical background, they cannot go to cardiac arrest incidents which used to be a bed manager's role because they had medical skills and could organise the arrest team.

The NHS simply isn't run the way it should be imo

Re: Complain up, not down

Defibrillators have taken away the personal touch.

Re: Complain up, not down

The personal touch + defib means my OH is lying beside me, not forgetting the marvellous Air Ambulance too.

Re: Complain up, not down

From my limited experience of the NHS in Scotland (particularly in Aberdeenshire), The medical staff are excellent, the nurses are a mixed bunch, but the admin staff couldn't organise a P*ss up in a brewery.

They are the best advertisement around for private medicine!

Complain - who's going to listen?

Re: Complain up, not down

I tend to complain to the person I am having a problem with and make them aware of the problem, but UJ showed me my error and who I should be complaining to and it works ! I still tell the person concerned first though as it feels a bit unfair to complain without giving them a chance to put it right first.

Re: Complain up, not down

The view from an ex civil servant;

To me-I`m going to complain to your superior(veiled threat from bully)

Please do that is your right.

Thinking-you will get no sense from him/her they were promoted to get rid of them it will come back to me and my staff at a level where we actually do things.

Re: Complain up, not down

Good post Alice. Yes I’m afraid that’s how it’s always been, complaining all the way down to the proverbial kicking of the cat when the only way to get results is to go right to the top, but that’s deliberately made impossible by mountains of red tape and threats.
One tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel is more and more people realise this now and very few actually take their grudge out on the ordinary staff, folks understand now that the rot is all at the top and has to be sorted out up there, in my opinion.

Re: Complain up, not down

Sad to say Alice but things are no better in the private sector. Management implement ideas which everyone tells them won't work, they spend humungous amounts of money on it and if you criticise you are accused of 'being negative' Then when the plan doesn't work it's quietly dropped.

We have targets and kpi's which are unrealistic, and even if you complain to a manager, they say "well what can I do, I have brought it up before and nothing was changed". Management need to have statistics to prove that things are being done, unfortunately no one seems to mind other than the staff at the bottom, that the job is not being done as well or efficiently as it should be done.

I sympathise with NHS staff, they generally do a great job under very difficult circumstances. Maybe more of the NHS managers should 'Get back to the floor' to see how their management is affecting staff and patients alike.

Sorry I did go on a bit

Re: Complain up, not down

I find that quite insulting. I assume you know many admin staff? I'm admin, but I've never organised a piss up in a brewery. Wouldn't be difficult