QUANTOCK VALE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Our aim is to provide the highest level of care for all our patients. We welcome concerns, compliments and complaints as valuable feedback that can help us learn from experiences and make improvements to services we commission.
Making a Complaint
If you have any complaints or concerns about the service that you have received from the doctors or staff working for this practice, please let us know.
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. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:
- Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
- Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that is within 12 months of the incident.
The Practice Manager will be pleased to deal with any complaint. He will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. You can make your complaint:
In person ask to speak to the Practice Manager
In writing some complaints may be easier to explain in writing – please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of the Practice Manager as soon as possible.
What We Shall Do
Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible.
We will endeavor to acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days in writing or telephone and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 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. In some cases, due to busy periods this process may take us longer and sometimes due to the nature of the complaint it can us take longer to give a final response, but we will try our very best to keep within the timescales.
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 appropriate;
- identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen
At the end of the investigation your complaint will be discussed with you in detail, either in person or in writing.
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 his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.
What You Can Do Next
We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and the opportunity to improve our practice.
However, if you feel at any stage that your complaint should be investigated at a higher level, you can contact NHS England in one of the following ways:
By post:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch B97 9PT
By email: [email protected]
Please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line.
By telephone: 0300 311 22 33 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, excluding English Bank Holidays)
NHS England will take a note of your complaint and arrange for it to be passed to a case officer.
The Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) offers support to complainants. The telephone number for the South West is 0845 1203782. You also have the right to ask for an independent review through the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) if you remain unhappy once Local Resolution is completed. You can contact the Ombudsman at www.ombudsman.org.uk or by telephoning 0345 015 4033 or by writing to:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower Millbank London
SW1P 4QP
or email: [email protected]
Help Us Get It Right
We constantly try to improve the service we offer.
Please let us know when you think we have done something well or if you have any suggestions as to how we can do something better
Telephone: 01823 432361
Website: www.quantockvalesurgery.nhs.uk