We aim to ensure that should a member of the Togetherall Community or a user of a Togetherall service feel that they have a complaint about any aspect of service received from Togetherall that:
Candour is defined in the Robert Francis Report as: “The volunteering of all relevant information to persons who have or may have been harmed by the provision of services, whether or not the information has been requested and whether or not a complaint or a report about that provision has been made.”
Here at Togetherall, we support the Duty of Candour and will always strive to be open, honest and transparent. We support the ‘Being Open’ policy and actively encourage our staff to be truthful in their dealings with members if and when things go wrong. We want all incidents and complaints to be investigated and to learn from this process.
We place governance at the top of our agenda: for the delivery of high-quality care for all our commissioned services and for ourselves internally. We believe that good governance fosters inward-facing scrutiny, honesty and transparency. We support whistleblowing and want to know if things are not quite right so that we can make them so.
Our members expect and deserve that as a digital peer-to-peer support community, we will be honest, open and truthful in all our dealings with them. We have put in place systems and processes to enable this. To this end we have a quarterly Quality, Safety and Performance Group which oversees assurance of quality, safety and performance, and a weekly Clinical Meeting which discusses clinical issues and supervision reports.
To help us improve our service we ask our members about their experiences – this happens in regular member surveys, and from time to time through community Talkabouts on the Support Network. We also welcome comments from our members and commissioners at any time, either through the ‘Ask a Wall Guide’ function on the site, or by email or post. We actively monitor our social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram) for member feedback.
A complaint is any instance of dissatisfaction raised by a Togetherall community member, user or person representing the interests of a member or a user. This will normally be expressed in writing by email to complaints-ca@togetherall.com.
Members may express dissatisfaction with Togetherall via a brick or in a talk about. This will not be treated as a formal complaint but may prompt a response from a Wall Guide as part of on-going monitoring of wall activity.
If a member wishes to make a complaint they can contact the Togetherall team at complaints-ca@togetherall.com. A complaint is any instance of dissatisfaction raised by a Togetherall community member, user or person representing the interests of a member or a user. This will normally be expressed in writing by email to complaints-ca@togetherall.com. Complaints should be made ideally no later than 12 months after the date on which the matter occurred, or no later than 12 months after the date on which the matter came to the notice of the complainant. Where a complaint falls outside of these timescales, the timescales may be waived if Togetherall feels that there are good reasons for not making the complaint sooner. If your complaint relates to the accessibility our site or services for people with disabilities, it would help us if you could provide the information advised in ‘Contacting Organisations about Inaccessible Websites’ in your request. All constructive feedback regarding the accessibility of our site and services is welcome and will be carefully considered.
Togetherall will acknowledge all complaints within one working day. Togetherall will carry out an investigation into the complaint and gather information from Togetherall staff as appropriate. A member of Togetherall may ask the sender of the complaint to provide further information for clarification. In the first instance, the complaint will be investigated by the Service or Clinical Director, who will provide a response on behalf of Togetherall. If the complainant remains dissatisfied after receiving this response they can escalate the matter to the CEO of Togetherall, who will consider the complaint and response and make a further final response for Togetherall. Copies of all complaints and their resolutions will be held on file within the Togetherall office.
There may be occasions when members have reason to complain about the postings of another member of the community. The process for complaint in these incidences are fully covered within Togetherall House rules. On any occasion when such a complaint is notified to Togetherall it will be investigated as set out above. All complaints about activity on the wall and other community members will be conducted maintaining anonymity of all members. A complaint will not prompt Togetherall to break with its commitment to maintain anonymity of all members of the community. If you wish to submit a complaint to Togetherall, please email complaints-ca@togetherall.com.
