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Complaints policy and procedure

Policy Statement

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (‘the College’) strives to provide a professional, respectful and timely service in all its interactions with stakeholders and is committed to adhering to policies and procedures.

However, the College recognises that on occasion services and/or the conduct of a College member, trainee, staff or representative might fall below expectations. If anyone believes that they have experienced a service or conduct that is below standard, they (the complainant) can use this complaints policy, which describes how to make a complaint and how it will be handled.

The Complaints Policy aims to:

  • Provide a fair and transparent complaints procedure
  • Provide an opportunity to anyone, including members of the public, to fairly and equitably express dissatisfaction or concern about any aspect of the College’s work or conduct or the work or behaviour of an individual or individuals working for or on behalf of the College, including the College’s fundraising activity
  • Publicise the existence of the complaints procedure so that people know how to contact the College to make a complaint
  • Ensure College staff know what to do if a complaint is received
  • Provide information on the procedure to be followed both by the complainant and respondent
  • Ensure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely manner
  • Ensure that any complaints are, wherever possible, resolved in a satisfactory manner.
  • Ensure that any complaints received are used as a learning experience to improve the work of the College.

The College is a member of the Fundraising Regulator and, as such, complies with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

Definition of a complaint and policy scope

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about the College’s work or conduct, or the conduct or behaviour of members, trainees, staff or College representative.

The scope of this policy relates to:

  • The conduct of a College employee
  • The conduct of a College member, trainee or representative who is performing duties on behalf of the College, such as participating in a College committee, and who has failed to adhere to the expectations documented in the College Code of Conduct
  • The professional conduct of a College member, trainee or representative of the College, whilst working for or representing the College1
  • A third party performing duties on behalf of the College, such as a lay member or contractor/supplier
  • Actions of the College governed by its legal duties
  • Actions of the College governed by its Royal Charter, College Regulations, or Charity Code of Governance
  • Actions of the College governed by its policies or procedures.
  • Actions of the College associated with our fundraising activity.

Out of scope are:

  • Examination appeals. These should be made via the College Examinations Appeal Policy
  • Complaints about the College’s National Guideline Alliance developing NICE guidelines, these should be directed to NICE
  • Complaints which relate to the conduct of a College member whilst delivering work not directly associated with College activity. These will in the first instance need to be raised, processed and concluded locally, for example with the member’s employer, before the College’s Complaints Policy can be invoked
  • Complaints about the Disciplinary, Removal and reinstatements Committee (DRRC) or Appeal Panel decisions
  • Note: in such circumstances, specifically related to fundraising, where the complainant is not satisfied with the response received from the College, they still have the option of reporting concerns to the Fundraising Regulator2

How to make a complaint

To make a complaint, the complainant should email Complaints@rcog.org.uk ensuring they include the following information:

  1. Details of the nature of the complaint, including where relevant, names and dates and /or the College policy, process or Regulation not followed
  2. Available evidence to substantiate the complaint either within the email or as an attachment, or an explanation as why there is no evidence, or limited evidence
  3. The remedy the complainant is seeking in relation to the complaint
  4. The full name, address and day time telephone contact number and e-mail address

Complaints should be submitted as soon as possible after the relevant incident. Ordinarily this is within a month so that the College can effectively investigate and identify any remedy. The College understands that there may be circumstances, including the nature of the alleged incident, where an individual needs time and support to come forward and the College will always respect this need. However, it should be noted that College investigations into complaints which relate to historical incidents may take additional time to progress and may not be fruitful or conclusive if there is limited or no access to documents and individuals. Complaints made in public forums or on social media will be investigated by the College, but only where the complainant has specifically made it clear in their message that it is to be treated as a complaint against the College and an e-mail address has been provided to enable a confidential response to be made by the College.

How your complaint will be managed

Stage 1

The College will acknowledge all complaints within two working days of its receipt. The process will be managed by the College’s Complaints Officer, who will request any additional information required if items 1-4 above are not provided or further information is required to ascertain if the complaint is in scope or not. Please note that where requested information or further information is not made available the investigation may be delayed or prevented from continuing.

Stage 2

Within ten working days of receiving a complaint, the College will confirm whether it falls within the scope of this policy and the appropriate next steps.

Complaints which relate to the conduct of a College member whilst delivering work not directly associated with College activity, will in the first instance need to be raised with the member and/or the member’s employer as appropriate, and processes concluded with them, before the College’s Complaints policy can be invoked.

Stage 3

An appropriately qualified individual from within, or outside of, the College will be appointed as the Investigating Manager by the CEO, who is independent from the Complaints Officer. The Investigating Manager will gather the facts relevant to the complaint, ensuring that the information gathered is accurate and complete. The Investigating Manager may invite the complainant to a meeting to discuss the complaint in person, and may seek additional information from the complainant. The protocol for the appointment and conduct of the Investigating Manager will be made available.

Stage 4

Following completion of the Investigating Manager’s investigation, the Complaints Manager will respond in writing to confirm the investigation outcome and the reasons for either upholding or rejecting the complaint. Where the College has upheld a complaint and proposes a remedy, all individuals affected will be contacted to discuss this further. Remedies might include (but are not exclusive to):

  • For members, trainees or representatives
    • To be asked to offer an apology
    • Referral to the College’s DRRC, (see DRRC Referrals, below)
  • For staff
    • To be asked to offer an apology
    • Informal warning via the staff Disciplinary Policy
    • Formal warning via the staff Disciplinary Policy
    • Gross acts of misconduct may lead to termination of employment via the staff Disciplinary procedure
  • For general College activity
    • A representative of the College to offer an apology
    • A review of our position or processes
    • Issuing a remedy statement

In addition, if the complaint is upheld, the action taken and the lessons learned or to be learnt will be formally recorded by the Governance Officer in the College’s complaints register (annually reported to the Board of Trustees).

Taking your complaint outside of the College – Fundraising

If a complaint is about the College’s fundraising work or activities and the complainant is not satisfied with the College’s response, they are entitled to take it to the Fundraising Regulator. As a member of the Fundraising Regulator, the College is committed to abiding by any decision they reach on complaints that are escalated to them.

Their contact details are:

The Fundraising Regulator, 2nd floor CAN Mezzanine Building, 49-51 East Road, London, N1 6AH

Website: www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Telephone: 0300 999 3407

Email: enquiries@fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Respondent

If the complaint is about an individual (the respondent), rather than the organisation, that person has the right to know that a complaint has been lodged. The College will ensure that the respondent is aware of the process of managing the complaint and what support and advice is available at each stage of the complaint, including how and when the respondent will be given the opportunity to respond to the complaint via the Investigating Manager. The respondent will also be informed of the possible sanctions available. The College will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the rights of anyone involved in the complaint are respected.

If the complaint is in scope, related to a respondent and deemed to be of a serious enough nature to warrant consideration of suspension of duties, the College President will, as part of the DRRC referral process, make a decision regarding temporary suspension of official College duties whilst the investigation is ongoing. (This process is defined in the College Regulations, point 23.4).

Appeal

The following process applies both to the complainant and the respondent.

If the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint, they can request a review within ten working days of receiving the College’s response to the complaint. The complainant must provide sufficient new and relevant evidence to substantiate their appeal. This could include evidence that the College did not follow this Policy in the initial investigation. The College cannot review a decision with which the complainant disagrees if there is no new evidence to consider.

For complaints about the RCOG’s fundraising, where the complainant is not satisfied with the response received from the College, they still have the option of reporting concerns to the Fundraising Regulator3

Stage 1

The complainant’s request for a review will be acknowledged within two working days of receipt.

Stage 2

Within ten working days the College will confirm whether sufficient further evidence has been provided in order for this to be considered as part of a review of the complaint.

Stage 3

A different College Investigating Manager, who has not been involved in any aspect of the original complaint, will be appointed by the CEO. The Investigating Manager will consider the request for a review and respond to the complainant with reasons for either upholding or rejecting the review. If the College has proposed a remedy the complainant will be contacted about this. In addition, if the review is upheld, the action taken and the lessons learned or to be learnt will be formally recorded by the College’s Governance Officer.

Confidentiality

All complaints and all accompanying documentation will be kept confidential as far as is possible in facilitating a fair and thorough investigation. The privacy rights of all the individuals concerned and any potentially confidential information will be respected and upheld; this needs to be balanced with:

  • The need for an open and fair investigation, including contacting the person against whom a complaint has been made for a response where appropriate
  • Appropriate remedial action to be taken
  • The outcome of the investigation to be reported appropriately
  • Action to be taken to improve our processes and quality of service

The College will endeavour to anonymise complainants when considering complaints. However, it will occasionally be necessary to disclose a complainant’s identity beyond the Investigating Manager to progress an investigation. Complainants who are not willing for their identity to be disclosed in this way should make this clear in their letter of formal complaint.

The College will take all necessary steps to support all parties involved in a complaint, and undertake all investigations sensitively and expediently.

Complainants are assured that they have the opportunity to raise matters of legitimate concern through this policy without risk of disadvantage or criticism.

Data retention

All materials relating to complaints will be kept on active file for six years from the date of conclusion of the complaint and will then be destroyed.

DRRC Referrals

Where complaints against a member of the College are considered to be so serious that they merit consideration by the College’s DRRC, the Investigating Manager must refer the case to the College CEO who will decide the most appropriate Officer to escalate the case to. Where, in the process of appointing the Investigating Manager, the College CEO considers a case to be so serious that it merits consideration by the DRRC, the CEO may escalate the case at that point to the President or most appropriate Officer. The most appropriate Officer will be the President unless there is a conflict of interest. Only the President or the nominated Officer may make referrals to the College’s DRRC. This referral will be made before any conclusion has been reached by the Investigating Manager (if appointed). At this point the College’s DRRC processes and the College’s Regulations will supersede this Complaints Policy and Procedure.

College discretion

The College reserves the right at its sole discretion to decline to take forward any complaint where in its opinion the complaint is malicious, vexatious or is motivated in a way which the College considers unacceptable. In such a case the College will advise the complainant that the complaint will not be taken forward and the reasons for that.

Definition

The term ‘member’ refers to anyone in a category of RCOG membership including, but not limited to Fellow, Member, Associate.

This is version 3 of the Complaints policy and procedures document, and was approved 6 September 2024.

  1. “Professional conduct” in this context refers to the adherence by members to the College’s Code of Conduct for College members and representatives. This sets out the College’s expectations as to how members and representatives should conduct themselves when working on behalf of, or representing, the College. It includes, but is not limited to, working in accordance with the Nolan principles of public life. ↩︎
  2. http://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/more-from-us/resources/complaints-process ↩︎
  3. http://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/more-from-us/resources/complaints-process ↩︎