Complaints Policy
At our practice, we aim to provide the best level of patient care, however we acknowledge that we may not always get it right for time. For this reason, as part of the NHS Complains System, we operate a complaints procedure.
As a Practice, we take all complaints seriously and more so an opportunity to reflect, apologise and learn from all incidents to ensure and improve patient care is at the heart of our Practice.
How To Complain
Often at the time the complaints arise, we hope that we can sort any issues and problems quickly. However, if you wish to put in a formal complaint, please do as soon as possible to enable us to establish the problems early on.
All complaints should be submitted in writing to the Practice Manager. Please try to avoid emailing our generic email as it may get overlooked. The Practice Manager will ensure that all concerns are dealt with in a sufficient and prompt manner.
Complaining On Behalf Of Some Else
We maintain a very strict Medical Confidentiality Policy here at the surgery. If you are not the patient, but are complaining on their behalf, you must have their permission to do so. An authority signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness or infirmity) of the providing this. We will check this with our records to see whether a third party consent form has been filled in. If not, please find it here, complete and email or hand in to our reception.
What We Will Do
If your initial complaint was made verbally but the practice was unable to resolve it within 24 hours, the matter will be dealt with formally.
For all formal complaints:
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The practice will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days
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We aim to have it fully investigated within 20 working days of the date it was received.
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If we expect it to take longer we will explain the reason for the delay and tell you when we expect to finish. A member of the practice team may contact you to discuss the complaint or clarify any points.
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You will recieve a final letter setting out the result. This will follow from any discussions, appropriate apologises and steps taken by the practice to ensure it does not happen again.
We advise that if you do have a problem, you are happy to use our complaints procedure. It will enable us to improve our services and put right anything that may be going wrong.
If you do not wish to use our complaints procedure you can complain via NHS England who can be contacted at the following address:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Telephone: 0300 311 2233 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, excluding English Bank Holidays)
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net
Taking Your Complaint Further
If you fell after our investigation and conclusion, that you are not happy with the outcome you are entitled to contact the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman who will consider your complaint further. They can be contacted at;
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Miller Tower
30 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Telephone: 0345 015 4033
Email: phso-enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS)
The PALS is based at Midlands and Lancashire CSU and can provide confidential advice and support helping you sort out any concerns you have about the care provided. The Patient Advise and Liaison Services, they can be contacted by telephone or by writing to
Customer Care Team
Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit
Jubilee House
Lancashire Enterprise Business Park
Centurion Way
Leyland
PR26 6TR
Freephone: 0800 032 24 24
Email: mlcsu.customercarelancashire@nhs.net