Learning Not To Take Complaints Personally

Written by: R.A Black

This is a tough one, as even now several years into working in general practice, there are times when I read a complaint and it touches a nerve. The flippant way a patient will publicly state that the service you provide, the service you work your backside off for, is below standard can really grind one’s gears upon opening Outlook in the morning.

Recently, no thanks to the Daily Mail, there has been strongly worded GP bashing everywhere, and it pains me to see when I know full well how hard they work, sometimes losing out in their personal lives in the pursuit of their profession. I’ve known several GPs who have sacrificed family life and missed out on key moments because they were dedicated to their patients, and to see them so relentlessly criticised feels unjust to me.

I find myself at times wanting to respond honestly to NHS choices comments, to tell patients that they have absolutely no idea how difficult life in General Practice really is, and then I remind myself that until I came to work in GP land, I had no idea either.

We walk a lonely path as PMs, and we work in an environment that anyone outside of it cannot really understand. In my previous job I thought I got it, but I absolutely did not. The relentless and continually changing nature of the beast is so different from other working environments that unless you have work within it you simply wouldn’t believe it to be true - and we have to make our peace with that.

Patients, suppliers, cleaning companies, contractors, and anyone else who has anything to do with the practice don’t understand and they never will. People will always complain because it’s within our nature as human beings to do so, and they will certainly complain if they’re unhappy about something relating to their health.

Trying to explain primary care to an outsider is like trying to explain colour to someone born sightless – it can’t be done.

So, how do we handle the situation? Well aside from privately referring to anyone on the outside as ‘muggles’ I have a solution, and a way to approach the kind of complaint that makes your blood boil.

Remember that in most cases it’s not personal. Not matter how furious a tirade has been received, most of the time it really isn’t anything personal. Often in my experience, complaints come from a place of frustration, fear, or misinformation. People complain when they’re worried about their own health or the health of someone they love, they complain when they can’t get exactly what they want when they want it, and finally they complain when they’ve read in the Daily Mail that GPs are refusing to see patients face to face and are refusing to work 100 hours a week etc.

A lot of the time, a complaint can be dealt with over the phone using gentle reasoning rather than it becoming part of a formal complaint process. Call the patient, talk their complaint through, see if you can resolve it over the phone and reduce your own workload. Sometimes you find that they just need someone to talk to.

Think of the patient as a customer. Having worked in customer service I find this way of approaching complaints to be what works best. Remember that in some ways, they are customers really, and that their satisfaction does matter. We are told often enough to put the patient at the centre of everything you do and this is no less true of responding to and dealing with complaints. Put yourself in their shoes, no matter how unreasonable you think they are being, and try to see the situation from their perspective. Even better, you may be able to find a solution to their problem together, which in itself can be a major victory.

I try to look at all complaints and patient feedback as a way for us to learn and grow as an organisation. I now have a matrix of patient feedback, and within it I include learning points and actions; anything positive that has come from a complaint will be documented in that matrix. Why? Because not only will it be a useful resource when CQC come knocking, but also because it means that on the days when I receive an email of complaint, or the dreaded handwritten envelope that signals patient feedback, I can open the matrix and remind myself that some good does come of patient feedback.

We have improved our service and identified problems that wouldn’t have come to light had a patient not complained. We all know that you get the odd patient who seems to love an argument and will not listen to anything you say in defence of the service, but that’s ok, because they’re muggles, and they’re never going to understand.

We just have to learn to be ok with that.

The Positivity Card!

Written by: Craig Arnott

First things first; welcome to Dene Healthcare’s blog, specifically written for those working in or interested in the crazy and chaotic, yet wonderful world of General Practice! 

My name is Craig Arnott, I am the Commercial Director at Dene Healthcare and have been working in and studying the sector in depth for the last 15 years.  In that time I have learned more acronyms than I ever thought possible (although subsequently forgotten the majority), read more white papers and directives than any human could be expected to action and gained a deep understanding, as well as respect, for all those working in General Practice (well – certainly the vast majority).

The Doctors and Nurses by default have my admiration and appreciation, as anyone who devotes their lives to the care of others should.  They are the ‘heart and soul’ of General Practice!  This blog, however, is for the ‘mind and body’ (for lack of better metaphors), in other words intended to be targeted more toward the Practice and Business Managers, as well as all operational and administrative staff.    

I am a long-term admirer of the endurance, adaptability, and strength in the face of adversity that this largely hidden army embodies!  They drive the industry, navigate the many pitfalls and at present, take most of the hits, at least from the public (particularly readers of the Mail).

General Practice has always been an ‘easy target’ and has historically been blamed for pretty much everything as wide ranging as NHS backlogs, increases in A&E admissions through to lists of failings in the health and social care system too long to mention but recently, things have gotten worse!

The last 2 years have been crazy, and nowhere more so than in the wonderful world of General Practice, however a rather toxic mix of national pent-up frustration, combined with enforced restrictions, government miscommunication, public misunderstanding and poor reporting has led to the most negative and depressing period in General Practice that I have known.

All industry related news is discouraging, the directives – most likely unattainable, the expectations unrealistic and the negativity has become infectious, and for the first time I am witnessing the scars of battle on even the most resilient, bubbly, and strongest of characters in General Practice.

So, I’d like to propose that everyone in General Practice does what General Practice does best; band together, focus on the patient as you always do but take time for each other too.  Accept you can only do what you can do and start to break the vicious cycle of negativity contaminating your workplaces.

There are always exceptions to the rule but regardless, try to do one thing to make a positive difference to a colleague and if they thank you ask that they pay it forward (love that concept and the film but if anyone asks – I’m all about the Italian gangster films – Scarface etc).

Today, you should hopefully be receiving a thank you card from the staff at Dene Healthcare, regardless of you using or even knowing who we are and what we do.

Let’s defeat the negativity with the thing it hates most – positivity!

Thank you for reading, we’d love to hear from any aspiring bloggers who would like a guest slot.  We understand how precious your time is and we’ll be more than happy to compensate you accordingly.

Thanks again for your time and thank you, thank you, thank you for all the amazing work you do!

The Inbox Conundrum

Written by: E Metrodora

One of the issues I hear about from my PM colleagues is the colossal amount of emails we receive. You have to read them all too (well, to an extent) and I don’t know about everywhere else but our CCG have got into the habit of including important bits of information in various bulletins so if you don’t keep your eye out you could miss something important.

I’ve had PMs telling me they are drowning in hundreds of emails – and I get it because we do receive way too many, but I’ve found that by using a simple system that I can manage everything coming into the inbox without much hassle.

If there is one thing you can do every day to make your life easier, it’s to go through your emails and decide what needs to be actioned, what can be delegated, and most importantly what can be deleted.

I use a very simple system. I approach all emails with the same few questions when I do my morning scan through the list:

1) Do I need to read and digest this information? If yes mark it as unread

2) Do I need to action this email? If yes mark it with a flag

3) Can I delegate this task? If yes, send it on and move it out of the inbox and into a file (my system goes one file for the year and an individual file for each month. Everything is organised but it keeps the clutter out of the inbox)

4) Can I deal with it now? If its something small and quick I’ll action it then and there and either file or delete as needed

5) Can I delete it? If so, delete it and forget about it

I can go through hundreds of emails using this system and then I can clearly see what I need to action, what I need to read and even better I’ve got rid of everything that threatens to waste my time at a later date.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when you see 100 or 200 or 300 emails in the inbox, but if we can take half an hour or even (dare I say it) a full hour first thing and do nothing but go through the emails you’ll have broken the back of what’s there and you can plan your day accordingly. Sitting on an email account with thousands of old emails in the inbox is demoralising and becomes depressing over time. If you allow yourself that space during the day to go through and see what there is to be done, rather than getting bogged down in the woe-is-me of the workload you may find that it isn’t as bad as those 200 odd emails led you to believe.

Also: top tip, if you’ve been away, when you get back from your holiday and have to go through the emails, start with the most recent. If you go back to the start of your holiday, the likelihood is you’ll send out emails for work that has been completed in your absence and all it will result in is you clogging up everyone else’s inbox as well as your own. Look at the most recent and work back, you’ll see what’s been done rather than what needed to be done a week ago. There’s nothing more irritating as a member of staff than your manager sending you things to do that you’ve already completed in their absence, so start at the top and thank them for everything they’ve completed and CC’d you into. Find the original emails in that conversation and guess what? You can delete them! Or you can file them if you’re one of those people who insists on keeping everything forever…as you may have guessed I do not belong to that school of thought.

Don’t be a slave to your inbox…get stuck in and show those emails who’s boss!

Fancy a blog?

Written by: Craig Arnott

Welcome to Dene Healthcare's blog!

Specifically aimed at the interests and issues around the administrative and managerial functions in General Practice.  Our intent is to keep it interesting, relevant, helpful and positive.  Not simply highlighting the many issues but where possible looking to the solutions and workarounds General Practice has already found as well as, share best Practice.

We would love to know if you had any feedback or suggestions as to topics to tackle and/or solutions you’ve found to problems already.  We would also love to hear from anyone with hidden desires to try their hand at becoming a guest blogger (anonymously if you’d prefer)?

If so please e-mail us at info@denehc.co.uk

Many thanks!

Stand With Ukraine

Written by: The Dene Team

Dene Healthcare have been sending medical supplies to Dnipro for the brave people of Ukraine since the Russian invasion on the 24th February 2022.  

If you are able to support Dene in this worthy cause in any way then please get in touch.

Our minds and hearts are with you!