Free, impartial advice for care homes on dealing with complaints

Care home owners and managers can now access a new guide packed with free, impartial advice on how to deal with complaints.

The guide by Business Companion, part of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has been created in partnership with The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

It refers to CMA’s (Competitions and Markets Authority) latest guidance for care home owners and CTSI research on the regulations covering all four UK nations

The guide sets out the process for handling complaints to ensure care home owners and managers act in accordance to the law and create an environment that empowers their staff to understand their duties and resolve complaints where possible, helping to build trust between staff and residents.

Leon Livermore, chief executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said: “It’s important that we all work together to improve the lives of people living in care home accommodation. This guidance has been designed to put residents at the heart of the care they receive, and to help them live fulfilling lives with dignity and respect.

“Having a robust and coherent Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) in place has many benefits. It gives managers and staff peace of mind that they are acting in accordance with the law when difficult situations do arise; it ensures that residents’ family members and representatives feel that they are being listened to and taken seriously when they do have a grievance; and, of course, it means residents themselves have a voice in circumstances under which it can be all too common for them to feel powerless.”

He added: “Having a CHP also means more of your attention can be focused on the things that are really important right now: caring for some of the most vulnerable members of our society at a time they need it the most."

The guide which can be accessed here also includes a checklist for the complaints handling procedure, a list of types of complaints and who to contact as well as advice on dealing with internal complaints.