As John England writes in his book NHS Dirty Secrets, he uncovers the real motives behind PALS. Pals is the complaints department for the NHS and often for people with complaints, this is their first port of call.
As John England correctly identified that for minor matters PALS are a useful resource. However, if you have a major issue regarding medical negligence, it is inadvisable to contact PALS. The reason for that is that PALS is not about patient safety it is about protecting the hospital's reputation and liability in terms of lawsuits. Any matter that is likely to bring the chief executive or the hospital bad publicity, then PALS is the worst place to go. They will use several tactics including gaslighting, delays, denial and obfuscation.
For serious complaints, the best course of action is a solicitor who can advise you individually regarding your case. If this solicitor advises you to contact PALS then follow their advice. Be careful in your contact with PALS in terms of face-to-face meetings or phone calls. The ombudsman also advises again contacting PALS this way and that all communication be in writing. Otherwise, pals will seek to misconstrue and falsify your complaints. It also opens you up as PALS will retain the narrative and often complain and write falsely that you as the complainant are behaving aggressively or do not understand your own complaint and rewrite your complaint to answer less serious questions that have little or nothing to do with the issues you have raised.
Another reason for avoiding PALS is the real possibility of covert recording. Experienced PALS officers are well versed in terms of trickery as their job as stated is to cover for the hospital and the CEO and not to recognize their faults or recompense you and admit liability for clinical negligence. Instead all they will do is try to take months if not years keeping the complaint away from the Ombudsman, protecting the guilty, and making up fairy stories to cover the facts and the truth of serious complaints especially if they will cause major reputational damage or if the compensation they are liable to pay you is high.
PALS always behave as though they are your friend to begin with, when in fact they are merely attempting to gather information about you, your objectives, and the next steps you are taking legally. PALS use various tactics in order to make you angry and then call you for being understandably aggressive. This tactic is known as tone policing.
Most significantly do not expect anything that you state to PALS to be treated as confidential, Internal memorandums go around, and your notes are often copied and sent to several departments including the IG department, PALS officers and the actual department you are complaining about without your consent. Regardless of the false literature and posters about PALS, they are not there to help patients. Do not trust them.
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