We welcome your comments and suggestions on the service we provide. If you have a compliment or feel that we are doing something well we would like to know about it. The practice has suggestion boxes up in the waiting areas of the surgery.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from a clinician or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know.  We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints.  Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to Complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often 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 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 and accurately.  If it is not possible to do that, 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

What we shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 28 working days of the date when you raised it with us.  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:

1. Find out what happened and what went wrong
2. Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
3. Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
4. Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t 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 third party consent form signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Further investigation

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure.  We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.

You can also seek assistance from the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service, who can be contacted on the following number 0300 330 5454. The address is:

The Parliamentary & Health Services Ombusdman

Millbank Tower

Millbank

London

SW1P 4QP

Tel: 0345 0154033

Email : phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk

The PHSO would normally expect any request to be lodged within 12 months however, you are encouraged to make the approach as soon as possible after the completion of local resolution.

or the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Telephone 0345 015 4033

(between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm Monday to Friday)

Website www.ombudsman.org.uk

Please note that complaints should be raised with the Ombudsman within twelve months.