Complaints and feedback – Introduction to aged care video

Tamika:

Today I found out that getting a complaint from a client isn’t really a bad thing. I know that sounds weird doesn’t it? But you see if you get a complaint and then you fix it and then you also change things so that the problem doesn’t happen again you’re actually making your service better. That’s called continuous quality improvement. It’s probably easier if I show you what I mean.

Enid:

It looks like there’s been a couple of complaints this month which we’ll take a look at in a minute. But it’s nice to see feedback on the things we’re doing well. We’ll make sure we keep doing those things.

Lance:

That’s good. I guess that was because we did that client survey.

Enid:

Yes. I took a look at the feedback in those surveys and I’ve been able to see things that we can improve and also what we’re doing well.

Judith:

What things did the survey show?

Enid:

Well clients like the activities that we’ve been doing and want more of them.

Lance:

That’s good. Having those new young ones working with us means we have time to do more activities.

Enid:

Mmm. But we also got some feedback that people aren’t that happy with some of the meals they’re getting. Some people said that the meat is too tough for them and want more stews and softer meats like chicken and fish. Lots of people said they like the new flavours in the meals though.

Lance:

Sonia’s a good cook. She can make those changes pretty easily. She said she was enjoying using the different herbs and spices that she learnt about at that course she went to.

Enid:

Okay. I’ll have a talk to her about this and ask her to write up a new menu that includes choices for softer meats.

Judith:

But what about these other complaints? I know one of them because I wrote it up.

Enid:

Ah yes. I see the one you wrote up Judith. Let’s take a look at the complaint form. Ah yes. That’s right. Delia got the wrong blanket.

Judith:

I just need to check with Lance that he’s finished with the van so we can drop these blankets off. You keep folding and labelling those blankets.

Tamika:

Okay. Hmm, Delia is only a small lady. Maybe this one’s hers. Yes. It must be.

§(Music Playing)§

Judith:

All done? Come on. Let’s get these delivered.

Delia:

You mob give me the wrong blanket back. This one’s too small. I was shaking all night. Too cold.

Tamika:

Oops. Sorry Delia. That was my fault. There was no name on the blankets so I didn’t know which was yours. I thought it was the smaller one.

Judith:

I’m sorry Delia. We’ll go find your blanket as soon as we can. Come up to the centre and have some breakfast while we go and look.

Delia:

Good. That blanket cost me a lot of money.

Tamika:

Here it is. I found it for you Delia. I’ll just give it another wash and it will be ready to go home with you.

Phew. At least that was fixed pretty easily.

Judith:

Yes. But now we better finish writing up the complaint form I started filling out with Delia earlier.

Tamika:

Why do we have to write that up? We fixed it. No problem anymore.

Judith:

We write up complaints and then how we fix them for lots of reasons. Firstly we want to record the problem and how we fix it in case Enid or someone else asks us what happened. So many things happen every day that we might forget the details. We also want to keep a record of complaints that clients make so that we can see if there are any trends, you know, problems that keep happening. If we see a trend it shows us there might be a bigger problem that we need to fix. Complaints are also a way for us to improve things.

Tamika:

Complaints are good?

Judith:

Well we have to remember that complaints are a way for people to tell us that something is wrong like giving someone the wrong blanket.

Tamika:

Yeah. I was thinking about that. We could sew name tags on to the blankets. That way we wouldn’t mix them up again.

Judith:

See. You just used the complaint to come up with an idea for making our processes better.

Tamika:

I did? Oh yes. I did. So that’s how it works.

Judith:

Every month Enid, Lance and I get together to look at all the complaints and the feedback register and we use the information to improve the service. That’s part of the continuous quality improvement cycle.

Tamika:

Continuous quality improvement cycle.

Enid:

So how’s the idea for sewing the name tags on the blankets going?

Judith:

We’ve asked the clients if they think it’s a good idea and so far everyone has said it is. Some people have asked if other clothes can also have a name tag sewn in as well.

Enid:

That’s a good solution. I’ll have to find out where to order the name tags from though. I’ll add it to our continuous quality improvement register. But in the meantime what are you doing to stop this from happening again?

Judith:

We’re putting a note on the washing machine to say whose laundry it is and we pin that note to the blanket when it comes out.

Enid:

Good. Now I’ll also add in the recommended changes to the menu to the continuous quality improvement register as well then we’ll take a look at this next complaint.

Tamika:

See. Getting complaints is not such a bad thing. It’s such a great way to make things better.