COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE FOR PATIENTS

The Practice Complaints Manager is Mrs Terry Wilson (Practice Manager)

The Practice Responsible Person is Dr Dominic Matthews (Senior Partner)

MAKING A COMPLAINT

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from anyone working in this practice, we would like you to let us know so that we can put things right and improve the service we provide.  We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. This procedure is referred to as “local resolution”.

HOW TO COMPLAIN

We would hope that most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily, often at the time they arrive and with the person concerned.   If this is not possible or does not happen it is helpful if you let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a few days or weeks.  The sooner you let us know of a problem the easier it will be to establish what happened.  If you are unable to let us know quickly, please let us have details of your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem or within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem.

Complaints may be made verbally to any member of the practice team or in writing, addressed to the Complaints Manager, Mrs Terry Wilson. You can make your complaint directly to NHS England, (contact details at the end of this leaflet) although they would prefer that you complain to us in the first instance.  It is helpful if you can give as much detail as possible when making your complaint and to consider what you would like us to do to put things right for you. 

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

Your complaint will be acknowledged within two working days, either by telephone or in writing.  It is helpful if you can be contacted by telephone to discuss your complaint in more detail and to agree an appropriate timescale for responding. 

Your complaint will be thoroughly investigated and will be treated confidentially.   During the investigation it may be necessary to discuss your complaint with staff but we will only discuss information which is necessary to investigate your complaint.

During our investigation we will aim to find out what happened and what went wrong. When the investigation is complete we will contact you to discuss the outcome and this will then be confirmed in a letter.

We will aim to respond to your complaint within 10 working days, or within the timescale which we agreed with you when you made the complaint.

COMPLAINING ON BEHALF OF SOMEBODY ELSE

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we will need to know that you have their permission to do so.  This is because of the rules of medical confidentiality.  A note signed by the person concerned will be required, unless they are incapable of providing this, because of physical or mental illness.

GETTING HELP WITH MAKING YOUR COMPLAINT

If you need help or advice in making your complaint you can talk to the POhWER Advocacy service. Contact details are given below:

For help with making your complaint, contact either:

NHS England

Tel 0300 311 2233

Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Or

POhWER (a charity providing independent advocacy)

Tel: 0300 456 2370

Minicom: 0300 456 2364

Email: pohwer@pohwer.net

Website: https://www.pohwer.net

Post: PO Box 14043, Birmingham B6 9BL

TAKING YOUR COMPLAINT FURTHER

By using our practice complaints procedure if you have a problem, we feel that this will give us the best opportunity to resolve the problem and to improve our practice.  However, if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the local resolution process, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Phone 0345 015 4033 or text ‘call back’ with your name and mobile number to 07624 813 005 to request that they call you.