The ISCAS Annual Report for 2018/19 was launched on 3rd September 2019. Baroness Fiona Hodgson CBE, Independent Chair of the ISCAS Governance Advisory Board introduces the Annual Report and Sally Taber, ISCAS Director outlined the busy year providing a service for private patients who are prevented by law to access the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
The Annual Report outlines the continuation of the hosting agreement with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and the ongoing work with the Patients Association. The facts and figures show that ‘complaints handling’ continues to be the largest category of complaint, followed by ‘Consultant/Medical Care’. The Annual Report refers to the processes of improvement undertaken by ISCAS and the subscribers, including investing more in online training. Disappointingly we also report on the very slow take-up of subscriptions to ISCAS by the NHS Private Patient Units (PPU) and this will be an area we will continue to focus on in 2019/20.