Complaints Procedure

 

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 for dealing with complaints.

 

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. You may complain verbally but ideally done in writing. Please make your complaint as soon as possible after the event to enable us to establish what happened accurately.

Complaints should be addressed to Pauline Kitchiner Practice Manager or any of the doctors. Alternately, you may ask for an appointment with Pauline Kitchiner in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about the nature of your complaint.

Please see contact details on our contact us page

Alternatively if you feel you are not able to approach the surgery with your complaint you can contact NHS England.

By post to:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT

If you are making a complaint please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line.

By telephone: 0300 311 22 33 

You can find other ways to contact NHS England on their website

 

What We'll Do

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days and aim to have investigated the matter within an agreed timeframe or no longer 30 working days from the date the complaint was raised.  We will then be in a position to offer you the outcome of our investigation in writing or if necessary, a meeting with the people involved.

When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

  • Find out what happened

Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this

  • Make sure you receive an apology or full explanation where this is appropriate
  • Identify what we can do to ensure 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 note signed by the person concerned will be required, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

 

What To Do If You're Not Satisfied

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.

If you are still unhappy with the final response to your complaint and would like to take the matter further, you have the right to contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to ask them to investigate. It is important that you make your complaint to the Ombudsman as soon as you receive the final NHS response as there are time limits for the Ombudsman to look into complaints.

You can contact the Ombudsman via their website, Telephone on 0345 015 4033 or by post at Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. 

 

Comments and Suggestions

The doctors and staff are very interested to know what you think of the services we offer at the surgery.

There may be times when you wish to comment about our work and on other occasions when you have a good idea for improvement.

 

We Take All These Matters Seriously

If you have a comment or suggestion, then please write to or ask for Pauline Kitchiner, our Practice Manager. Please find our contact details here.

If you would prefer to speak to a doctor, we can arrange an appointment with one of the partners. Please contact Pauline in the first instance.