How to Use Mediation Techniques to Solve Complaints

Jennie Jones is Head of the Optical Consumer Complaints Service (OCCS) and a partner at Nockolds Solicitors, specialising in complaints and medical negligence, pioneering the use of mediation as an alternative form of dispute resolution (ADR). Here, she explains how this approach successfully solved 88 per cent of complaints in the optical sector last year, and how mediation techniques can be used to solve early stage disputes and avoid escalation.

Mediation is, quite simply, an informal process which helps two parties to see a dispute from each other’s perspectives. When boiled down to its basics, you can understand why this approach has been growing in popularity for the last two decades in family law, helping couples to work together to reach a shared agreement rather than going down the costly and often extremely emotionally charged route of legal proceedings.  Mediation provides a quicker, less costly and more informal route through conflict.

In my role as a solicitor and head of The Optical Consumer Complaints Service, I have seen first-hand how alternative dispute resolution (ADR) can be used to turn a negative situation into a positive one or at least a more balanced one with an easier route to resolution. In the past year, The OCCS has supported 4,500 consumers and practices to resolve complaints either swiftly at a local level, or through mediation. Just under 88 per cent of complaints in the optical sector were successfully resolved through meditation last year and I believe this approach could be transformative in nursing and midwifery too. We can learn a great deal from best practice in other health arenas. Here, I share my top mediation tips for nursing and midwifery professionals, to help in the very early stages of dispute resolution:

2. Find the balance:  In a health setting, there can often be an uncomfortable imbalance of knowledge between the patient and the health professional. Patients often tell us that they feel ‘dismissed’ or that they ‘haven’t been listened to’. In many instances the dispute is not clinical but relates to communication and expectation management, so professionals should look to avoid clinical jargon and speak to them in a way that redresses that balance at all available opportunities.
3. Practice empathetic listening: Listening to understand and not to solve takes some time but is critical in the early stages of the conversation, engaging both the client and practice in the journey towards resolution and helping to redress that balance of knowledge
4. Use open questions to demonstrate an understanding of the full impact of the patient’s complaint: Try not to just focus on the technical aspect of a complaint but also ask questions like; ‘how would you like the clinician to resolve your complaint?’ It’s important to remember that most complaints revolve around how a patient felt or was made to feel. Often in raising a complaint, the patient will receive a thorough clinical explanation of what has happened and why treatment was given or recommended, but does not address and acknowledge their feelings, worries or the impact of events
5. Answer the question being asked: In my earliest experiences of Alternative Dispute Resolution, I realised that very often, patients are given the answer the questions the clinicians want to answer, and not the one being asked. This can ramp up the animosity between clinician and patient, as the patient then reads the explanation as a defence, intended to emphasise the imbalance of knowledge. When this happens, it is easy for a dispute to escalate and for communication to break down.

In cases where issues naturally do escalate, mediation is a sensible and proven approach. And once a resolution has been reached, there is a chance to make small changes which can prevent a similar situation happening again. Ultimately, we are dealing with people and it is often not about the treatment or diagnosis provided, it is about the relationship formed with your patient.

For more information about the OCCS and to speak to a member of our team, visit https://www.opticalcomplaints.co.uk/ or contact the OCCS on 0344 800 5071 or via enquiries@opticalcomplaints.co.uk