Complaints Procedure

How to make Comments, Suggestions and Complaints

This page explains how you can make comments, suggestions and complaints about the services provided by The Hadleigh Practice.

We welcome your comments, both positive and negative, as they let us know when we get it right and where there is room for improvement.

Letters of Appreciation

If you have been happy with the care you have received please let us know. Letters to individual clinicians or to the Practice Operations Manager, Christine Foster, are very much appreciated.

Suggestions

If you have any suggestions for making changes or improvements to the way we provide our services, please complete a Suggestion Form (available from the Reception Desk) and hand it to one of our Receptionists. You can also submit a complaint via our online form.

Reception Manager

If you have a query or concern or wish to make a verbal complaint, please contact our Reception Manager Sara Curtis on 01202 696514. If she does not have the answer immediately, she will call you back when the information is available. You can also submit a complaint via our online form.

For help and advice with a possible complaint, you can also contact: The Advocacy people on 0330 440 9000 or visit their website

Alternatively, for general health information and advice you can contact: Healthwatch Dorset on: 0300 111 0102

Or, the Health Information Centre, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Longfleet Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 2JB (Tel: 01202 448003). You can also visit the NHS website for more information on how to contact them

Complaints

We hope that you will always receive an excellent service from us.  However, if you are unhappy with any aspect of your care or service then please let us know as soon as possible.  We operate an in-house practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.  Our complaints system meets the national criteria.

How to Complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time that they arise.  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.  Written complaints should be addressed to Christine Foster, Operations Manager.  We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days of receipt of your letter, either verbally or in writing, and offer to discuss the matter.  We will explain how we are going to handle the complaint and the likely period for completion of the investigation and response to you.  We will respond as soon as reasonably practicable after completing the investigation, this is usually in writing unless an alternative way of responding is agreed with you. 

This response will include:

• An explanation of how the complaint has been considered
• The conclusion reached
• Any remedial action that is needed and an assurance that this will be carried out
• An apology if appropriate; and
• Details of your right to take this complaint to the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman under the 1993 Act.

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else

Due to confidentiality, we need written consent to investigate a complaint from a ‘third party’. If you are helping someone else with their concern, we can give you our third-party form for their completion. 

NHS Complaints Procedure

We hope that if you have a problem you will use our In-house Complaints Procedure.  We believe this will give us the best chance to put right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our service to you.

You may choose to make a complaint verbally, in writing or electronically to the NHS Dorset rather than the Practice. Their details are:

NHS Dorset, Vespian House, Barrack Road, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1TG. Tel: 01305 368900). Details of how to contact them online can be found on their website

Under the NHS Complaints procedure complaints are usually investigated only if they are made within 12 months of the event, or within 12 months of you realising that you have something to complain about. However, this 12 month limit does not apply if there were good reasons for not making the complaint within the time limit or, despite the delay; it is still possible to investigate matters effectively and fairly.

There are two stages to the NHS Complaints Procedure:

• 1st Stage – local resolution either by The Hadleigh Practice or NHS Dorset.
• 2nd Stage – Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP (Tel: 0345 015 4033), or you can visit the Ombudsman website

At The Hadleigh Practice we try to ensure that all patients have a positive experience of our service and we take complaints very seriously.  We welcome the opportunity to share all our learning from patient feedback and complaints so we can offer the best possible care to our patients. 

Please Note: Our In-house Practice Complaints Procedure does not deal with matters of legal liability or compensation.