Kenny MacAskill: Public services face too many unrealistic complaints

Cataclysmic errors and tragic mistakes have occurred recently in public services which, rightly, have been castigated, with both individuals and organisations held to account.

Far less frequent have been institutional cover-ups, though again, they have happened. They are even more concerning and rightly, supervisory bodies have been chastised for their complicity.

However, that aside, public services have been delivering well despite severe challenges across the wide spectrum they cover. Not only that, but procedures for investigating complaints and systems for addressing negligence have improved immeasurably.

That has been needed as some previous actions and past attitudes were entirely unacceptable. Just because something’s a public service and not a commercial transaction doesn’t mean that rights are forfeited or the highest standards shouldn’t be expected. 

When I was a young lawyer, I recall medical negligence complaints could be more akin to waging war than seeking answers, many of which could have exculpated and exonerated the ‘defendant’.

However, a culture of defensiveness and demanding proof overrode all that. Then, any intimation, not even of a claim but simply an enquiry, and the shutters would come down, with defence lawyers unleashed.

Likewise, police procedures seemed designed almost to deter, not just dissuade, the individual from pursuing a case. It seemed that irrespective of the merits of any allegation, and even if they were weak or could be explained away easily, the messge was do not sue and pursue at your peril.

Meanwhile, local and national government tended to take a hard-line stance when handling citizens who had the temerity to challenge not just the authority but actions of the state. For example, despite my opposition to council-house sales, attitudes towards painting a front door a different colour or otherwise breaking the uniformity of a housing scheme could beggar belief.  

However, times and attitudes have changed and a service culture has arrived. Customer relations has rightly entered into the parlance of the public sector. Obviously it’s variable and can go from the entirely unacceptable to the quite outstanding but public services now check against delivery and have invoked procedures to address complaints and in-built systems to monitor failings.

Both as a lawyer and as an MSP I experienced new regimes that were about greater openness and a willingness to seek to explain why actions had been taken, or not, and why other matters couldn’t, or wouldn’t be taken. It was a welcome change being able to go in and be advised of what and why something had happened, and usually with the constituent present, allowing for a full and frank discussion. 

Most issues, in my view, could be resolved once there was an understanding of what had happened and an explanation provided. 

Some systems, though, still need to improve. Police complaints can still be highly legalistic, when really a chat over a cup of tea is what’s often needed.   

The problem now isn’t with public-service procedures but with some of the demands of the public themselves. Pressure is growing but so are expectations, some of which are often entirely unrealistic and sometimes, frankly, ridiculous.

This is also worsened by the level of criticism made about perceived failings in those services, some of which is quite unfair. Politicians and elected representatives have a duty to their constituents, but also to public services wherein many of its employees are also their constituents.

I recall listening to a new council tenant demanding redecoration of their allocated property, despite the fact it was perfectly habitable and they were able to do it themselves. To my shame, I demurred, rather than challenging them. Or constituents demanding knee transplants when it was their weight that was the issue, or insisting the NHS replace a gastric band when the constituent had gone private to queue jump and had been told it wouldn’t be covered and were far from impecunious.

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In that case, I refused to take it further, politely advising that there was nothing more I could do.

Indeed, managing people’s expectations is now a refrain in many of our public services. For example, the police are likely to receive complaints about a lack of instant response to a theft – even where neither eye-witness nor forensic evidence is available – and a meeting simply to listen to the tale of woe being the only procedure possible. 

Similarly, my partner, who works in the health service, regales me with tales of relatives demanding an ambulance to take their sick mother home from hospital, despite the fact they’re neither absent abroad nor at work. It’s just viewed as a god given right. 

Some demands made on councils are even more perverse.

Public services need to be defended when they act appropriately, not just castigated when they fail. Excessive demands and unreasonable requests shouldn’t be supported. It’s not easy for politicians but it can be done. 

During the late winter snow storms, a councillor called on people to clear the snow outside their own house, if able. Well done that man. We need much more of that and less pandering to the whingeing Jock.