Recommendation R44: Proactive quality assurance beyond complaints

Complaints alone are a poor indicator of quality of care, particularly in a vulnerable population such as those admitted to MAH. A low volume or absence of complaints does not necessarily indicate that care provided is good or satisfactory. Organisations must find proactive approaches to assure themselves and the public that high standards of care are being provided, such as using a validated system to explore the experience of people with learning disabilities and autistic people on a quarterly basis, including regular person and family surveys or interviews. In a learning disability setting, interviewers must be trained in effective methods of communication. Complaints should be analysed for themes quarterly and triangulated with themes from incident reporting and RQIA inspection reports, and displayed on a public dashboard as well as online.