Complaints Procedure
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our Practice.
However, we are aware that things can go wrong, resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would like the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.
To have your complaint investigated, you need to complain within 12 months of the event happening, or as soon as you first become aware of the issue you want to complain about.
How to make a compliment or complaint
Whether you are happy or unhappy with the care and treatment that you have received, please get in touch and let us know your views.
Receiving compliments and complaints is important to ensuring good quality local healthcare in our Practice – helping us to find out more about what we’re getting right and what we can improve.
You can speak to any member of staff initially with your complaint. This gives you the opportunity to resolve any concern you may have without it going through a formal process.
Most complaints are best resolved within the practice and these should be made via the Management Team. You can contact them directly on [email protected]
You can also make your complaint online using our Complaints Form.
Formal Complaint
What we will do
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and advise you on time scales for a reply. We aim to deal with all complaints as promptly as possible, but will respond to you within 28 days. We will notify you and then keep you updated on our progress.
During our investigation, we will:
- Find out what happened and what went wrong
- Treat complainants with respect and courtesy
- Provide appropriate assistance to understand our procedure
- Apologise where this is appropriate
- Identify what we can do to make sure that the problem does not happen again.
If after our response you are still unhappy with the outcome, you will be provided with further details of the escalation process.
Confidentiality
All complaints will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Where the investigation of the complaint requires consideration of the patient’s medical records, we will inform the patient or person acting on his/her behalf if the investigation will involve disclosure of information contained in those records to a person other than the Practice or an employee of the Practice.
We keep a record of all complaints and copies of all correspondence relating to complaints, but such records will be kept separate from patients’ medical records.