The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) has a unique role in supporting public bodies so together we can learn and drive improvement. Through our work, we are committed to achieving positive change for people, public services and public policy. We have therefore developed this evidence-informed best practice guidance on learning from complaints.
It is the first to be launched in a series of guides to support improvement in complaint handling standards across public services, alongside the introduction of a standardised and simplified complaints handling approach. Complaints help public bodies to learn more about issues from a service user perspective that may be less visible in formal regulatory, audit and inspection processes. Notably, a number of public inquiries highlighted missed opportunities to identify and address systemic issues because of a failure to properly consider and learn from complaints.
This guide is mainly for senior leaders and middle management staff in public bodies who have responsibility for ensuring that complaints are viewed as an opportunity to learn from and given high priority within the organisation’s governance process.
It encourages the development of an open learning culture in the delivery of public services and therefore may be a useful resource for senior leaders seeking to bring about change and for those who have a responsibility for complaints and/or governance. It will help staff to understand the importance of welcoming and valuing complaints as learning opportunities to improve service design and delivery.
