{"id":667,"date":"2020-12-14T21:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T21:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careful-online.stackstaging.com\/?p=667"},"modified":"2023-06-29T11:02:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T10:02:30","slug":"is-poor-customer-service-dangerous-to-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careful.online\/is-poor-customer-service-dangerous-to-your-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Is poor customer service dangerous to your health?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Recently, my family and I had a spot of trouble with ESPA<\/a> \u2013 an outfit that sells high-priced unctions to those who, like me, want to keep on the right side of their mother-in-law. The company, sold to the<\/a> Hut Group<\/a> a few years ago, failed to provide the the level of after-sales service that their prices and marketing would suggest is a requirement of an allegedly high-value brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESPA made the mistake of entrusting a package to Hermes, another customer service black hole<\/a>. The effect of this conjunction was so appalling that I am now taking every opportunity to use this as an object lesson when discussing leadership, reputation and the risks of damaging valuable goodwill. Like Hermes, The Hut Group TrustPilot scores<\/a> are so miserable, it\u2019s clear I\u2019m not alone in thinking they are torching shareholder value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let\u2019s be clear, I am the first to admit that this is a quintessentially first-world problem. While there are millions being infected in a pandemic, whinging about courier services and lost perfumes may have a ring of \u201clet them eat cake\u201d. Losing some lotion is, of course, entirely trivial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I bring this up for a reason: it is relevant to the primary purpose of my day job, namely improving patient safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESPA committed every customer-service sin in the book: lying, evasion, procrastination and \u2013 of course \u2013 blaming the customer \u2013 just in order to avoid sending-out a replacement package via Royal Mail (which gives me an opportunity for a big shout-out to Nigel our joyful and hardworking postie)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what struck me forcibly last week, is that everything we experienced had parallels in the heart-stopping report we read last week about the Shrewsbury and Telford Maternity Unit<\/a> over a 20 year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experiences of the many hundreds of parents detailed in this report is, without any shadow of doubt, anything but trivial. As a citizen in our country, we should all give thanks to Rhiannon Davies, Richard Stanton and to Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths whose courage and relentless determination eventually drew rightful attention to these horrors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ockenden report is the most damning assessment of a rotten safety culture since the Mid Staffs report<\/a>. And unsurprisingly, it contains all the same behaviours: lying, evasion, procrastination and \u2013 of course \u2013 blaming the patient. We have yet to read the final report, but I have little doubt that we will find serious lapses in leadership that resulted in bullying, intimidation and silencing of staff in the name of \u2018meeting the numbers\u2019 and \u2018protecting the reputation\u2019 of the trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it is possible to draw parallels between a fractured patient safety culture and the far less serious problem of a customer service failure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it is. And I\u2019m not alone. Quint Studer<\/a> and his colleagues have been talking about \u201cservice recovery\u201d in healthcare<\/a> for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issues are clearly complex, but there are evidence-based ways to improve patient safety culture. It is my experience that patient safety culture can be taught. This paper written with my colleague Judi Ingram<\/a> \u2013 demonstrates that this can be low-cost and high-impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the STEP-up system that we discuss (and you can enjoy our \u2018British humour\u2019 laden video<\/a> to accompany it) there four key behaviours that leaders can teach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n