If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.
How to Complain
We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do this, please let us have details of your complaint:
- within 12 months of the date on which the matter occurred;
or
- within 12 months of the date on which the matter came to the notice of the complainant.
We ask that you forward your complaint in writing addressed to Dr P Chadwick who is a partner and the complaints manager. It would be a great help if you could be as specific as possible about your complaint. Alternatively, if you prefer to can ring the practice and ask to speak to one of our Practice Management Team, who will discuss the issue with you in the first instance and offer any help or advice.
NB. Please do not use the above email address for general or clinical correspondence.
What we shall do
We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days of receipt and will provide you with a time frame to fully investigate the issues raised. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:
Find out what happened and what went wrong:
- make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
- make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
- identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so. A form signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable of providing this due to illness, if they are under 16 years of age or deceased.
We provide a Patient Authorisation Form that requests all the necessary information and just requires a signature from the patient once their representative has completed it.
We would also like to inform you of the following services
North East NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Service.
They offer a free service which is independent of the NHS and will help you explore your options at any stage of a complaints process. Their contact details are as follows:
t. Free Phone: 0808 802 3000
e. ica@carersfederation.co.uk
www.carersfederation.co.uk
Complaining to the Health Services Ombudsman
It is the aim of the NHS Complaints Procedure that complaints be resolved at a local practice level. However, if you remain dissatisfied you have the right to request an independent review by the Health Services Ombudsman.
If you have any questions about whether the Ombudsman may be able to help you or about how to make a complaint please contact them:-
Helpline: 0845 015 4033
Email: phso.enquires@ombudsman.org.uk
In writing:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
21 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Further information can be found on their website at:
www.ombudsman.org.uk
