Overview

The organization has a policy and procedure whereby clients may institute informal and formal complaints, file grievances, or appeal decisions made by program staff members.

Accreditation Requirement(s)

The organization has a written policy and procedure, which includes:

• A description of how complaints will be resolved that includes written notification, levels of review, and timelines
  
• How the procedures will be explained in an understandable manner to clients and are available to clients
  
• The rights and responsibilities of all involved
  
• The availability of advocates or other assistance, including complaint resolution information
  
• No retaliation or barriers to services for implementing a complaint or grievance
  
• The organization's conducting a review of complaints annually, looking for trends and patterns and areas needing improvement
  
• The organization's taking into consideration the diversity of the persons served and communicating client rights in a variety of forms

Implementation Tips

Some Implementation Tips provided, in part, by Robert Johnson at: www.accreditationnow.com.

• The atmosphere of your organization's environment and culture will play a major role in the degree that persons served are involved in filing grievances. It has been our experience that programs and staff members that are proactive, open to client input, and involve persons served in all aspects of their programs have very little grievance activity.
  
  
• The degree of openness and inclusiveness that you demonstrate in your organization will be directly correlated with the level of complaints from both clients and staff members. Of course, for this to be an organization's cultural norm, the leadership has to consider these as core values and demonstrate openness and inclusiveness on a daily basis.
  
  
• The following tips and suggestions should assist you in developing your grievance procedures in your organization:

• It is important to tie your grievance system/process into your quality and performance improvement process. Often, trends develop that indicate a specific program or group of staff members is associated with the majority of grievances and/or complaints.
  
  
• Keep procedures simple. Provide the persons served with easy-to-read and understandable instructions in this area. Post client's rights along with forms and instructions to file a complaint that are easily accessible at all service locations.
  
  
• Practice "customer service" as your initial reaction to complaints and grievances. Nine times out of ten, the problem can be resolved informally.
  
  
• Some organizations assign an internal position as the "Consumer Advocate" or the "Rights Advocate." Some states require this by law and have ombudsperson guidelines. Consider this approach in your organization. This can be a proactive way to problem-solve and take care of the majority of complaints before they become problems. You can advertise this position internally to all persons served as someone who is available to solve problems. This person can also lead regularly held, client-input groups to initiate action in areas that could potentially become problems.