About this event

Marcus Evans will be in conversation with Jo Osimuwa and Rachel Gibbons. 

This event will explore how healthcare services can manage complaints in a way that supports learning and improvement while avoiding a culture of blame. It will examine how complaints processes have sometimes failed patients and families - leaving them feeling unheard - but also how poorly managed investigations can place staff under damaging, prolonged scrutiny. 

The discussion will focus on the challenge of maintaining a careful balance: taking concerns seriously and identifying genuine problems, while recognising the limits of complex systems where not every adverse outcome reflects wrongdoing. It will also consider how distress, grief, and uncertainty can shape complaints, and how institutions can provide thoughtful containment rather than allowing situations to escalate.

Central to the event is the role of institutional judgment - developing processes that are thorough yet proportionate, and ensuring leaders have the confidence to reach and act on reasonable conclusions. The aim is to show how services can remain fair, reflective, and effective in supporting both patients and staff.

A conversation between:

Marcus Evans: Psychoanalyst, Fellow of the Institute of Pyschoanalysis, former Clinical Lead of the Adult Department at the Tavistock Clinic.

Jo Osimuwa: Clinical and Operational, South London and Maudlsey NHS Foundation Trust. 

Rachel Gibbons: Consultant Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst and Group Analyst. 

Each speaker brings extensive experience in managing complaints within the NHS and will discuss how healthcare organisations can balance accountability, learning, and staff wellbeing. 

This lecture will be recorded and available for 7 days after the lecture takes place. 

REFUND POLICY: Full refunds are offered for cancellations made before 14 days before the event date or first day of an event or series. For full event booking terms and conditions click here.

Concession tickets are available, for students, BPAS candidates and NHS trainees and nurses. Please email [email protected] if you are unsure if you qualify for a concession ticket.

Views and opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Institute, event organisers or other speakers. We expect delegates to respect the confidentiality of clinical material discussed in our events. The content must not be recorded, conveyed or disseminated in any format and participants must not share access to the event with non-registered participants.