Practice Complaints Procedure 

 

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Your feedback is important in helping us plan for the future and continually improve our services, so please do tell us how we can do things better, or if we are doing something well. This will help us to understand what is important for you as a patient, carer or relative and we are grateful for you taking the time to contact us.

 

What to do when things don't go to plan

We also appreciate that things don’t always go to plan and want to work with you to resolve any problems you may experience. Many enquiries and complaints can be looked into and resolved quickly by discussing them directly with the person who is providing your care, or the Practice/Reception Manager. This is best done at the time you became aware of the problem, so that the people responsible for providing the service can help solve the matter for you straight away. 

 

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time that they arise and with the person concerned. If your complaint 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 twelve months of the incident that caused you the problem
  • Within twelve months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that this is within twelve months of the incident

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.  If you are unable to resolve your concern, you can make a written complaint, which should be addressed to the Practice Manager, or to any of the Doctors. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint as this will help us to find out what happened and what went wrong.

 

What we will do

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint and respond to you as soon as we are able . We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint we will 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 that you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
  • Identify what we can do to make sure that 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 needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

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 an opportunity to improve our practice. However, if you do not wish to discuss your complaint with the practice, you should contact NHS England at the following address:

 

South East Complaints Hub

Alternatively, you can contact the South East Complaints Hub who are responsible for handling complaints about GPs, dentists, pharmacists/pharmacies and optometrists/opticians within South East England. The contact details are:

South East Complaints Hub

NHS Frimley ICB
King Edward VII Hospital
St Leonards Road
Windsor
SL4 3DP

Phone number: 0300 561 0290

Further details on how to contact them are available on their website

 

Further Information – The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

You also have the right to request an independent review if you feel that you cannot raise your complaint with us, Southampton City CCG or NHS England or if you are dissatisfied with the result of any investigation. If you wish to pursue this option you should contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman at the following address:

The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman
Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester M2 3HQ

Their role is to investigate complaints that individuals have been treated unfairly or have received poor service from government departments and other public organisations and the NHS in England. They are a free service open to everyone.

 

Support with NHS Complaints Advocacy 

The Advocacy people provides independent health complaints advocacy, offering you support if you have not received the service you expected from a service provided or paid for by the NHS:

The Advocacy People
PO Box 375
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 9HU

You can also visit The Carers Federation website

Charity and membership organisation POhWER provides advocacy to people who experience disability, vulnerability, distress and social exclusion. Visit the POhWER website or call 0300 4562370

Charity VoiceAbility is one of the UK’s largest providers of advocacy and involvement services. It is an Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS), which may be able to support you. This is a free, independent and confidential service that offers help and information in making a complaint about the NHS. Visit the VoiceAbility website or Telephone: 0300 3031660

Healthwatch Southampton NHS Complaints Advocacy Service, delivered by The Advocacy People, can also help resolve issues or concerns you may have about your local health services. Their service is free, confidential, and independent of the NHS:

Healthwatch Southampton
Southampton Voluntary Services
Kingsland Square
Southampton
SO14 1NW