1. Issue affecting appointments in the South East and South West regions
Last week we alerted you to an urgent issue where VIVO’s system was not receiving appointments being transferred by Pinnacle. Since then, we have worked hard with our suppliers to understand the causes, reduce the impact on families and find a resolution.
Unfortunately, the issues are impacting families through missed appointments, and we understand how frustrating this is for families.
VIVO has reported 1733 missed appointments due to this issue that have affected 1125 families. The technical teams have identified the causes of the problem and fixes are currently being deployed. While it will take a few days to permanently fix the underlying issue, a business continuity plan (BCP) has been implemented with a temporary solution while the permanent solution is put in place. Early feedback suggests this has significantly reduced but we aim to eliminate it entirely. Therefore, further measures have been agreed with immediate effect to strengthen this BCP. The Pinnacle team at the National Service Centre are supporting by providing information across to the VIVO such that checks can be made to prevent further missed appointments.Families who have had missed appointments will start to be contacted by VIVO this weekend to apologise and agree a new appointment. The first families should also start to receive compensation early next week.
We are truly sorry that many families’ first impression of the new contracts will be negative, and we know how incredibly frustrating it is to wait in for nobody to arrive, in some cases multiple times. This is not how the new contract will work going forward, and it is disappointing that these technical issues have occurred despite all our efforts and planning. VIVO and the systems team are working to ensure that the lessons are learned, and this issue cannot be repeated.
2. Complaints and compensation
Pinnacle is working hard to close the gap between complaints and compensation requests being raised and closed. They are recruiting additional staff to address the higher volume of complaints and compensation requests.
In addition, VIVO and Amey are increasing Regional Service Centre (RSC) resource to support an increased level of complaint resolution requests from Pinnacle allowing Pinnacle to speed up to the closure rate and communication to families.
Pinnacle will prioritise the raising of emailed complaints from families to effectively action them and ensure a complaint reference is applied. This will ensure families are aware that Pinnacle have acknowledged the complaint. All emails will be responded to within 5 working days.
The process for raising complaints for missed appointments in the South East and South West is described above where the dedicated new call option will capture these specific complaints. If families wish to raise a complaint about any other issue, or request compensation this should be raised via Pinnacle’s online form. We would also advise families to call the NSC to raise a new appointment in this instance.