Agenda item

To consider the annual feedback report for 2023/24.

Pete Sidgwick presented the annual customer feedback report for 2023/24 for Adult Social Care and Public Health services. The report summarised the compliments, complaints and comments received by these two services including learning and service improvement. Data, trends, and themes had been compared over the last three years.

The executive summary highlighted that a new customer feedback system was implemented on 15 January 2024, part way through the reporting period. Following a review in 2023/24, the Council’s customer complaints policy, including the updated children’s and adults social care statutory procedures, were approved by Cabinet on 15 February 2024.

At an organisational level, the overall feedback received had returned to pre-pandemic levels and in 2023/24 was at the lowest level in the last six years.  For Adult Social Care, the overall number of complaints had declined over the last three years and decreased from 189 in 2021/22 to 122 in 2023/24, a reduction of 35%. No Public Health service complaints were received in 2023/24.

The detail of the report included the following sections:

• Complaints Process.
• Analysis of customer feedback received during 2023/24, including a number of data graphics.

For Adult Social Care the data included:

• Initial feedback contact method
• Complaints data trend by month
• Complaint categories by subject
• Complaints per team
• Remedies
• Outcomes
• Timescale compliance
• Lessons learned and actions taken to improve services.

Members discussed the following points:

• The overall number of complaints was reducing, but compared to overall feedback, the percentage of complaints was rising. The reasons for this were explored, together with the endeavours to capture positive feedback from a variety of sources. Learning was taken from feedback where things hadn’t gone well and successes were celebrated. The councillor sought a balance to encourage positive feedback, so the report did not look worse than the actual position.
• Information was sought on the total number of customer interactions which the compliments and complaints were compared against. Around 12,000 people were supported each year. The councillor referred to the corresponding item at the Children and Young People OSC where 1.4% of interactions were related to complaints. This additional data had been requested by the directorate and could similarly be provided for this committee if helpful. It would provide context for future annual feedback reports.
• The decline in feedback levels was explored, it being questioned if anything further could be done to encourage feedback. It was considered that the ways people could provide feedback had been improved. The decline in feedback may indicate people were happy with the services provided, but similarly there may be a need to articulate the offer in a better way. If next year’s report showed a continuing decline in feedback levels, it may be necessary to rethink how the council engaged. Feedback was needed to understand the customer experience and to learn and adapt services accordingly.
• The number of cases closed during this period provided a positive indication.

It was agreed that the Committee notes the annual customer feedback report for 2023/24 for Adult Social Care and Public Health services, and comments as set out above.