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{{org_field_name}}

Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

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Gathering Feedback Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish a structured and effective approach to gathering feedback from service users, their families, staff, and stakeholders within our domiciliary care service. {{org_field_name}} is committed to ensuring that feedback is actively sought, documented, analysed, and used to drive continuous improvements in the quality of care provided.

By implementing a transparent and accessible feedback system, we demonstrate our commitment to person-centred care, compliance with Care Quality Commission (CQC) requirements, and ongoing service excellence.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all employees, service users, their families, and external stakeholders, covering:

• The various methods for collecting feedback.
• How feedback is recorded, reviewed, and actioned.
• How the organisation ensures inclusivity in the feedback process.
• Responsibilities of staff in managing feedback.
• The role of feedback in quality improvement and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Confidentiality, data protection, and safeguarding related to feedback collection.

3. Legal and Regulatory Framework

This policy is informed by and must be read alongside the following legislation, regulations and regulatory guidance applicable in England:

• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, in particular:
  • Regulation 9: Person-centred care, requiring care and treatment to be appropriate, meet needs and reflect preferences.
  • Regulation 16: Receiving and acting on complaints, requiring an effective and accessible system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling and responding to complaints, and requiring complaints to be investigated with necessary and proportionate action taken.
  • Regulation 17: Good governance, requiring effective systems and processes to assess, monitor and improve service quality and safety, maintain accurate records, and seek and act on feedback for continuous improvement.
  • Regulation 20: Duty of candour, requiring openness and transparency where a notifiable safety incident occurs.
• Health and Social Care Act 2008, including the framework for CQC registration, regulation and guidance.
• Care Quality Commission assessment framework and quality statements, including the expectation that providers make it easy for people to give feedback, raise concerns or complain, involve people in service improvement, and tell them what has changed as a result.
• Equality Act 2010, requiring fair and non-discriminatory access to the feedback and complaints process and reasonable adjustments where needed.
• Accessible Information Standard (DAPB1605), requiring publicly funded adult social care providers to identify, record, flag, share, meet and review people’s information and communication needs.
• UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, governing the lawful, fair and secure handling of personal data collected through feedback, concerns, complaints and compliments.
• Any associated local authority, commissioning, safeguarding and contractual requirements that apply to the service.

3.1 Definitions

For the purposes of this policy:

• Feedback means any view, comment, observation or suggestion about the quality, safety or experience of care, whether positive or negative.
• Compliment means positive feedback recognising good practice or a positive experience.
• Concern means an expression of worry, dissatisfaction or unease that may be resolved quickly without invoking the formal complaints process.
• Complaint means an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the service provided, actions taken, lack of action, attitude, communication, quality of care or any decision made by the organisation, where the person expects a response or resolution.
• Anonymous feedback or complaint means information provided without the identity of the person being disclosed. Anonymous matters will be reviewed and acted on as far as reasonably practicable.
• Relevant person has the meaning given in applicable legislation where duty of candour applies.

Feedback, concerns, compliments and complaints are all valuable sources of information. Where a concern or feedback issue indicates possible abuse, neglect, poor practice, a serious incident, or a notifiable safety incident, staff must immediately follow the organisation’s safeguarding, incident reporting and duty of candour procedures in addition to this policy.

4. Importance of Feedback in Domiciliary Care

Gathering feedback is essential for maintaining and improving the quality of care delivered to service users. It helps to:

• Identify areas for improvement and enhance service delivery.
• Recognise and celebrate best practices within the care team.
• Address concerns and complaints promptly and effectively.
• Ensure service users and their families feel valued and heard.
• Support compliance with regulatory standards and best practice frameworks.
• Drive person-centred care by responding to individual needs and preferences.

5. Methods for Gathering Feedback

To ensure a holistic, accessible and effective approach, {{org_field_name}} uses a range of methods to gather compliments, feedback, concerns and complaints from service users, relatives, advocates, staff, professionals, commissioners and other stakeholders. People must be able to raise feedback or a complaint verbally, in writing, digitally, through an advocate, or through any member of staff. Staff receiving feedback or a complaint must respond respectfully, record it appropriately, and escalate it in line with this policy and the Receiving and Acting on Complaints Policy where required.

5.1 Verbal Feedback, Concerns and Complaints

• Service users, relatives and representatives may give feedback or raise a concern or complaint in person, by telephone, during care delivery, at review meetings, or during quality monitoring calls or visits.
• People may raise a concern or complaint with any member of staff.
• Staff must listen actively, remain professional, avoid defensiveness, and clarify whether the person is offering general feedback, raising a concern, or making a formal complaint.
• Unless the matter is anonymous, verbal feedback or complaints that require follow-up must be acknowledged and recorded.

5.2 Written Feedback and Complaints

• Written feedback may be provided through feedback forms, letters, review forms, surveys or complaint forms.
• Information about how to provide written feedback or make a complaint must be clear, easy to understand and available in accessible formats.
• Written concerns and complaints must be logged promptly and acknowledged in accordance with the organisation’s complaints procedure.

5.3 Digital Feedback Channels

• People may provide feedback or raise complaints by email ({{org_field_email}}), through approved digital systems, online forms, or other secure digital channels used by the organisation.
• Digital routes must be monitored regularly so that concerns, complaints and safeguarding issues are not missed.
• Where online reviews or public comments identify concerns about care quality or safety, these must be considered, risk-assessed and acted on appropriately.

5.4 Independent and External Feedback

• Feedback may also be received through advocates, Healthwatch, local authorities, commissioners, healthcare professionals, safeguarding teams and other partner agencies.
• The organisation will cooperate with external review, oversight or investigation processes where appropriate.
• Where a person remains dissatisfied, they must be given information about the next stage of escalation under the complaints process.

5.5 Anonymous Feedback Options

• Anonymous feedback and anonymous complaints will be accepted and considered as far as reasonably practicable.
• Anonymous information that suggests abuse, neglect, unsafe care, discrimination or other significant risk must still be reviewed and escalated appropriately.
• The absence of contact details must not prevent learning or proportionate action being taken.

6. Inclusivity and Accessibility in Feedback Collection

{{org_field_name}} is committed to ensuring that every person can share feedback, raise concerns or make a complaint in a way that works for them. No person will be disadvantaged because of disability, sensory loss, communication needs, language, literacy level, culture, religion, age, neurodivergence, mental ill health, or lack of digital access.

To support this, the organisation will:

• identify, record, flag, share, meet and review people’s information and communication needs in line with the Accessible Information Standard where applicable;
• provide information in alternative formats, such as large print, easy read, audio, translated materials, braille or other formats on request;
• offer interpretation, communication support and advocacy where needed;
• support people to give feedback verbally if they do not wish, or are unable, to do so in writing;
• make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access the feedback and complaints process;
• ensure staff understand how to communicate effectively with people who may have difficulty expressing their views, including people living with dementia, learning disability, autism, sensory impairment or mental ill health;
• ensure people are not discriminated against, ignored, disadvantaged or treated less favourably because they give feedback or make a complaint.

7. Recording, Review and Analysis

To ensure feedback is managed effectively and contributes to service improvement, {{org_field_name}} will maintain a clear and auditable record of compliments, feedback, concerns and complaints.

The record for each item should include, where applicable:

• date received;
• name and role of person receiving it;
• name of service user and complainant, where known;
• whether the issue is feedback, compliment, concern, complaint, safeguarding concern or incident;
• method of receipt;
• summary of issue raised;
• immediate actions taken;
• whether advocacy, interpretation or communication support was required;
• whether the matter was escalated under safeguarding, incident reporting, duty of candour or disciplinary procedures;
• investigation findings;
• outcome and response sent;
• actions identified, person responsible and target date;
• date closed;
• themes, trends and lessons learned.

Feedback, concerns and complaints will be reviewed at management level at planned intervals and sooner where risk indicates. The organisation will analyse themes and patterns, including repeated issues, service areas, staff practice, communication barriers, equality-related issues, and outcomes for people using the service.

Records must be accurate, complete, contemporaneous, stored securely and retained in line with the organisation’s data protection and records retention arrangements.

7.1 Responding to Concerns and Complaints

Where feedback amounts to a concern or complaint, the matter must be managed in line with the organisation’s Receiving and Acting on Complaints Policy. In all cases, the organisation will aim to ensure that:

• concerns and complaints are acknowledged promptly;
• the complainant is told who is handling the matter and how they can be contacted;
• the process, expected timescales and next steps are explained clearly;
• the complainant is kept updated if the investigation takes longer than expected;
• the complaint is investigated proportionately, fairly and without delay;
• the complainant is told the outcome, any apology where appropriate, and what action has been taken or will be taken;
• the complainant is informed of how to escalate the matter if dissatisfied;
• the organisation cooperates with any external review, commissioner process, safeguarding enquiry or other independent process.

Complaints about the Registered Manager must be handled by a more senior person, nominated individual, director or another appropriately independent person. Where the nominated individual and registered manager are the same person, the organisation must identify in advance who will handle such complaints fairly and independently.

8. Acting on Feedback and Continuous Improvement

Gathering feedback is only effective when it results in meaningful change. {{org_field_name}} will use feedback, concerns, complaints and compliments to improve care quality, safety, responsiveness and people’s experience of the service.

This includes:

• developing action plans in response to trends, recurring issues or identified failures;
• allocating actions to named leads with timescales for completion;
• reviewing whether actions taken have resolved the issue and reduced the risk of recurrence;
• sharing learning with staff through supervision, meetings, training, competency checks and service updates;
• recognising and sharing positive feedback to reinforce good practice;
• using audits, spot checks, care reviews, complaints analysis and quality assurance processes to test whether improvements are effective;
• feeding back to service users, relatives and stakeholders, where appropriate, about improvements made as a result of their views, including through “You said, we did” style communication.

9. Staff Responsibilities in Managing Feedback

All staff are responsible for creating a culture in which feedback, concerns and complaints are welcomed, listened to and acted upon.

All staff must:

• encourage people to share their views about the care and support they receive;
• treat all feedback, concerns and complaints seriously and respectfully;
• know that a complaint may be made to any member of staff, verbally or in writing;
• record and escalate concerns, complaints, safeguarding issues and incidents promptly and correctly;
• ensure people are not discouraged, discriminated against or disadvantaged for raising feedback or complaints;
• seek support where communication needs, capacity, advocacy or safeguarding issues are identified;
• maintain confidentiality and handle information in line with data protection requirements;
• participate in learning, reflection and service improvement arising from feedback.

Managers must additionally ensure that staff receive training, supervision and support in relation to feedback management, complaints handling, duty of candour, safeguarding and record keeping.

10. Confidentiality, Records and Data Protection

Feedback, concerns, complaints and related investigation records must be handled lawfully, fairly, securely and in accordance with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, confidentiality requirements and the organisation’s records management procedures.

{{org_field_name}} will ensure that:

• personal information is used only for legitimate service, governance, safeguarding, legal or regulatory purposes;
• access to records is limited to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know;
• records are accurate, relevant and stored securely;
• information is anonymised or pseudonymised where appropriate for reporting and learning purposes;
• information is shared appropriately where safeguarding, regulatory reporting, legal obligations or the prevention of harm require it;
• records are retained and disposed of in accordance with the organisation’s retention schedule;
• staff handling feedback or complaints receive appropriate information governance training.

11. Monitoring, Oversight and Compliance

To ensure compliance and continual improvement, {{org_field_name}} will monitor the effectiveness of this policy through its governance and quality assurance systems.

This will include, as appropriate:

• regular audit of feedback, concerns and complaints records;
• review of response quality, timeliness and completion of agreed actions;
• trend analysis by issue type, service user group, staff team, protected characteristic, location or commissioned service where relevant;
• review of whether reasonable adjustments and accessible communication support were provided;
• review of whether concerns triggered safeguarding, incident reporting or duty of candour processes where required;
• reporting to senior management and governance meetings on themes, risks, actions and learning;
• checking that improvements identified from feedback have been implemented and embedded in practice;
• making records and summaries available to CQC if requested, in line with regulatory requirements.

11.1 Safeguarding and Duty of Candour

Feedback, concerns or complaints may reveal abuse, neglect, unsafe care, poor practice or a notifiable safety incident. Where this occurs, staff must not wait for the conclusion of a feedback or complaints process before taking protective action.

Where indicated, the organisation will:

• make an immediate risk assessment;
• take urgent action to protect the service user or others;
• refer safeguarding concerns in line with local safeguarding procedures;
• report incidents through internal incident reporting systems;
• consider whether the statutory duty of candour applies and, where it does, ensure openness and transparency with the relevant person as soon as reasonably practicable;
• keep a clear record of decisions, actions and notifications.

12. Review and Policy Updates

This policy will be reviewed annually or sooner if necessary due to regulatory changes or identified service needs. Updates will be communicated to all relevant stakeholders, and staff will receive training on any significant amendments.

13. Related Policies

This policy should be read alongside:

Service User Involvement, Review and Care Planning Policies

Receiving and Acting on Complaints Policy

Duty of Candour Policy / Incident Reporting Procedure

Safeguarding Adults Policy

Whistleblowing (Speaking Up) Policy

Quality Assurance and Governance Policy

Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Policy

Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy

Records Management / Retention Policy

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Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
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