Job vacancy: Complaints Manager - Unplanned Care, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Milton Keynes

Job summary

Main area: Quality and Patient Care
Grade: Band 6
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 430-CORP26-357A

Employer: Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Complaints & PALS (Dept)
Town: Milton Keynes
Salary: £38,682 - £46,580 Per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 16/02/2026 23:59
Interview date: 03/03/2026

Complaints Manager - Unplanned Care

Band 6

At Milton Keynes University Hospital, you will be welcomed into a friendly and supportive environment where teamwork and respect are at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to live our Trust values and behaviours every day, creating a culture where everyone feels heard and valued.

MKUH staff's Motivation and Involvement scores are among the highest in our peer group, showing that our people feel inspired and included in decision-making (Staff Survey, 2024).

Our benefits

We believe in recognising and rewarding the amazing contribution of our staff and that is why we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing, work-life balance, and professional growth, including:

Free on-site parking including EV charging
Complimentary refreshments
Flexible working arrangements
Discounted gym membership
Salary sacrifice car scheme
Generous annual leave, with the option to bank holiday entitlement
Membership of the NHS Pension Scheme
On-site nursery (charges apply)
A wide-ranging staff health and wellbeing programme including EAP
VIVUP products to support your mental, physical, and financial Wellbeing

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To be responsible for high quality and timely communication with all contacts to the office including patients, their families, and staff. Maintain and nurture relationships with all staff providing a supportive environment where staff feel supported through the complaints and investigative process. Ensure contacts to the service receive non- clinical advice appropriate to their needs. Patients and families should also be provided with advice and information regarding the complaints procedure and what they should expect from the Complaints or PALS team.

• To be able to produce reports that clearly analyse where complaints are happening, what the complaints are regarding and what action is being taken in response to the complaints on a Divisional and Trust wide level.

Other duties

• To provide support to the Head of Complaints and Patient and Family Experience and act as their Deputy in their absence ensuring the smooth running of the department and being the first point of reference and support to the complaints and PALS team members.

• Lead in the drafting of investigation responses, which may often be complex and/or lengthy, to produce a well written letter of response for the complainant for designated divisions.

Please refer to the Job Description for further details

Person specification

Qualifications and knowledge

Essential criteria

Educated to degree level or equivalent relevant work experience
A good knowledge of national Complaint Regulations including the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman Principles

Experience

Essential criteria

Extensive knowledge and experience working in a NHS complaints environment
Extensive experience in the writing of complaint responses
Highly developed verbal communication skills
Highly motivated with excellent negotiation and persuasion skills and an ability to develop and maintain constructive relationships with all professional/managerial disciplines
Experience of working across professional boundaries

Skills

Essential criteria

A strong focus on timely delivery of outcomes and achievements
Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
Ability to cope with tight deadlines and competing priorities
Well developed customer focus
Flexible and pragmatic approach to problems and working practices
Political Awareness
Ability to develop strong working relationships and to motivate staff and others
Knowledge of the Health Service and current national initiatives in relation to patient complaints
Ability to analyse complex clinical issues /problems
Self-motivating and act on own initiative, able to work independently
Able to work with a great degree of flexibility and adaptability
Ability to work with people at all levels of the organisation

Personal and people development

Essential criteria

Experience of training and developing colleagues
Evidence of Continuous Professional Development

Communication

Essential criteria

Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to influence others
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
Proven ability in writing complaint responses that will be acceptable within Trust standards

We believe success lies in the diversity of our employees and are committed to promoting equality, encouraging diversity and embracing inclusion. We welcome applications from everyone interested in working for us.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

MKUH uses identification scanning technology to confirm the authenticity of documents; all prospective employees of MKUH will have their original documents verified using this technology.

By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that information from your application will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) system. Your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.