So Ruth, what exactly do you do?
Ruth Hardy tells us about what keeps her busy!
Ruth Hardy
So Ruth what exactly do you do? This is a question I’ve faced on numerous occasions since October 2009 when I took a rather large leap into the unknown; from being a Senior Probation Officer in Kent (a job I knew well and had done for a long time) to that of an Operations Manager at the Office of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (which I didn’t and hadn’t). I quickly try to explain that I work as an Assessment Manager leading a team who assess complaints about government departments and bodies, but that doesn’t really describe the variety of complaints or departments that cross my desk on a daily basis each with their own stories to tell.
To explain what I do it’s best to start off with the role of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Our role is ‘to provide a service to the public by undertaking independent investigations into complaints that government departments, a range of other public bodies in the UK, and the NHS in England, have not acted properly or fairly or have provided a poor service. We aim to provide an independent, high quality complaint handling service that rights individual wrongs, drives improvement in public services and informs public policy.’ (source: http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/our-role). It may sound grand but on a daily basis that’s exactly what I see happening around me. I’m fortunate to work in an office with high values; high expectations; and high commitment, from professionals who care about the individuals who write in for our help.
When it comes to my individual role, I manage a team of 6 people who are all involved in assessing complaints received to decide if it is one the Ombudsman could and should investigate. Although the office also look into complaints about the NHS my team focus on complaints across the wide spectrum of central government departments and public bodies and so any one team member could have a caseload as varied as complaints about the Home Office through to the British Library, all being referred by MPs and having come to the end of the local complaints process. Whilst my role is largely to manage the team and the assessments produced I also have the opportunity to act in a liaison role with government bodies and so can one day be talking to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then later that week to the Legal Service Commission sharing the learning from complaints with them.
To find a job that you enjoy and one that goes hand in hand with your own values can be rare but for me it’s a reality and I feel truly privileged to hold such a role in such a service.