Key points:

• Trusts are committed to listening and acting on their patients’ concerns. They recognise that complaints handling and learning from complaints are important areas of work to get right and there is room for improvement.

• We see the draft Complaints Standard Framework as a welcome step in offering clear guidance for trusts, with a focus on evidence-based learning from complaints in a constructive way. We endorse the four principles outlined and support its development, agreeing that a single vision will help reduce confusion and contribute to creating a shared standard, and could form the appropriate basis for training and development programmes.

• We are however keen to highlight some areas where the guidance could be finessed and further developed in support of its implementation. These include an acknowledgement of the need for more insight on how combining organisational learning with improvement can happen in practice, awareness of the barriers facing organisations, alignment with other national work in this area, and the need to avoid creating additional burden at a local level.