Complaints LeadNHS

Job summary

Do you believe every complaint is a chance to put things right and make care better? Newham University Hospital is looking for an experienced Complaints Lead to lead our complaints service.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Governance and line managing our Complaints Managers, you will own the hospital's complaints performance and be the senior point of escalation for complex, sensitive and PHSO cases across our four divisions: Medicine, Surgery, Women's & Children's and Clinical Support Services.

Our complaints service has been transformed over the past two years: timeliness has risen to around 90%, reopened complaints are rare and PHSO escalations have fallen sharply, supported by a human-in-the-loop approach using Microsoft Copilot. We are looking for a compassionate, organised leader to sustain this, strengthen learning from complaints and help shape complaints handling across Barts Health.

Main duties of the job

o Leadership: Lead the day-to-day complaints service and line manage, develop and support the Complaints Managers.

o Complex cases: Personally manage the most complex complaints, lead local resolution meetings and act as lead for PHSO cases and MP enquiries.

o Quality: Quality-assure investigations and responses before executive sign-off, so every response is accurate, honest and compassionate.

o Performance: Own timeliness, reopened complaints and action tracking, running complaints huddles and reporting to the Hospital Executive Board and Quality & Safety Committee.

o Learning: Triangulate complaints with incidents, PALS, claims and inquests, and make sure learning drives improvement.

o Innovation: Lead continued improvement of the complaints process, including governed use of digital and AI tools, and represent Newham in the Group Complaints and PALS Transformation Programme.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person specification for full details of the duties and responsibilities of this post. Applicants are encouraged to read these carefully and use their supporting information to show how they meet the criteria.

Person specification

Essential

Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience

Significant experience of managing NHS complaints, including complex and multi-agency cases

Experience of line managing and developing staff

Experience of managing PHSO cases and local resolution meetings

Detailed knowledge of the NHS Complaints Regulations (2009) and the PHSO NHS Complaint Standards

Excellent written communication, with the ability to write clear, empathetic responses

Ability to manage difficult conversations with compassion and resilience

Desirable

Accredited complaints handling or investigation training

Registered healthcare professional (NMC, HCPC or GMC)

Experience of using complaints data to drive service improvement

Experience of using digital or AI tools to improve processes

Experience using Power BI or other data visualisation toolsThe full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

About us

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.