You are very welcome to speak to a member of management in a confidential environment. Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily with the person concerned, often at the time they arise, and this may be the approach you try first.
Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, giving as much detail as you can, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:
- Within 12 months of the incident,
- or within 12 months of you becoming aware of the matter
If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are not normally able to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority.
What we do next
We will aim to settle complaints as soon as possible. We have a Practice Manager and a Business Manager who both work full time across 5 days per week. In rare cases where a member of management is unavailable a telephone call will be made within 24 hours of a message being received. A written record of your complaint will be made by the manager and stored within the practice complaints log.
If you have written to the surgery in the first instance or following a verbal complaint, we will usually acknowledge receipt within three working days. We will aim to resolve the matter as soon as possible, in cases where an investigation into a matter is needed a timeframe will be set out for you to expect a formal reply to your complaint. When looking into a complaint we attempt to see what happened and why, once all investigations are complete, you will then receive a formal reply or you may be invited into the surgery in attempt to resolve the issue.
The practice reviews all complaints and hold regular practice meeting to discuss and learn from anonymised complaints.
Additional forms are available at reception.
External Complaints
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) provides confidential advice and support to patients, families and carers, and can offer advice on NHS and health-related matters. They can be helpful in such areas and can be contacted on 01942 822376.
If an issue remains unresolved following a practice review then patients may take their complaints to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. They can be contacted via phone on 0345 015 4033 or email on phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk.
Patients can write to the ombudsman at:
The parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HQ
