SUGGESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
Your complaint or concern
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 that meets national criteria for dealing with complaints.
How to complain
We hope most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, preferably at the time they arise, and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way, and you wish to make a formal complaint, you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a matter of 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 ou becoming ware of the matter
Within twelve months of the incident that caused the problem; or within twelve 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. See below for what to do in this case.
Send your written complaint to:
Mr Andy Botcher - Practice Manager
Via email to: wickhambrook.pms@nhs.net
Alternatively, forms on which you can describe your complaint are available from reception. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
If you do not wish to raise your complaint directly with the Practice, you may make your complaint directly to NHS England. A complaint or concern can be received by mail, electronically or by telephone.
By telephone: 03003 11 22 33
By email: england.contactus@nhs.net
By post: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT
Please note, you cannot complain to both the Practice and NHS England at the same time.
What we do next
We do our best to settle complaints as soon as possible.
We aim to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days, and to resolve the matter as soon as possible and will try to give you some idea of how long that may take at the outset.
A full investigation will then take place and we shall aim to:
• Find out what happened and why
• Make sure you receive a full explanation and apology, if appropriate
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again, if appropriate
There is no end date by which you must receive a response but you will be updated regularly on the progress of the investigation.
When the investigations are complete, a final written response will be sent to you.
Where your complaint has been initially sent to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.
The practice complaints manager is:
Mr Andy Botcher - Practice Manager
If the complainant is not satisfied with the results of the internal investigation they should let the practice know. Following a further investigation, the practice will consider the further points raised and contact you with a resolution as soon as possible.
If you are not satisfied with the final response, you have the right to raise a formal complaint with NHS England. A complaint or concern can be received by mail, electronically or by telephone.
By telephone: 03003 11 22 33
By email: england.contactus@nhs.net
By post: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT
You also have the right to take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of government and the NHS. The service is confidential and free. There are time limits for taking a complaint to the Ombudsman, although they can waive them if they think there is a good reason to do so. If you have questions about whether the Ombudsman will be able to help you, or about how to make a complaint, you can contact their helpline on 0345 015 4033, or email phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Further information about the ombudsman is available at www.ombudsman.org.uk. You can write to the Ombudsman at: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it. In the event the patient is deceased, then we may agree to respond to a family member or anyone acting on their behalf or who has had an interest in the welfare of the patient.
Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness, accident or mental capacity, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances that prevent this in your covering letter.
Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply. You may also find that if you are complaining on behalf of a child who is capable of making their own complaint, we will expect that child to contact us themselves to lodge their complaint.
We may still need to correspond directly with the patient, or may be able to deal directly with the third party. This depends on the wording of the authority provided
