Practice Complaints Procedure
We aim to provide you with the best possible service within our available resources and welcome your feedback on compliments and suggestions. Please complete our online Feedback form to leave your suggestions with the practice.
If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received then we would wish to look into the matter further and, where appropriate, improve our care and put right any problems.
Making a Complaint
Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily with the person concerned, often at the time they arise, and this may be the approach you try first.
Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, giving as much detail as you can, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:
- Within 12 months of the incident,
- or within 12 months of you becoming aware of the matter.
If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are unable to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority. We have provided a separate complaints form to register your complaint, and this includes a third-party authority form to enable a complaint to be made by someone else.
Alternatively, you can use your own format providing this covers all the necessary information we require within our complaints form.
Send or hand in your written complaint to:
The Practice Manager at the Lodge Surgery,
Normandy Road,
St Albans,
AL3 5NP
What We Do Next
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 28 working days of the date you raised it with us. You may then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet with the person(s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take
longer than this we will let you know, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.
When looking into a complaint, we attempt to see what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this, and make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you wish to do so.
When the investigations are complete, a final response will be sent to you. Where your complaint involves more than one organisation (e.g. social services) we will liaise with that organisation so that you receive one coordinated reply. We may need your consent to do this.
Where your complaint has been sent initially to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with. The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint, and also your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response.
Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else
We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it.
Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness or accident, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances that prevent this in your covering letter. Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply.
We may still need to correspond directly with the patient, or may be able to deal directly with the third party. This depends on the wording of the authority provided.
If you feel unable to approach the practice directly, you can ask NHS England to act on your behalf.
The contact details are:
NHS England,
PO Box 16738,
Redditch,
B97 9PT
Telephone: 0300 311 22 33
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net
Please mark your email ‘For the attention of the Complaints Manager’
Please provide as much information as possible to allow NHS England to investigate your complaint. Include some or all of the following:
- Your name and a valid email or home address for reply
- A clear description of your complaint
- Copies of earlier associated correspondence between yourself and NHS England, and
- Any valid correspondence case reference numbers.
NHS England aim to respond to all complaints within 20 working days. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome you have the right to approach the Health Service Ombudsman.
The contact details are:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Millbank Tower,
30 Millbank,
London,
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 0154033
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk
You may also approach PALS for help or advice. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is based at St Albans City Hospital, who provide confidential advice
and support, helping you to sort out any concerns you may have about the care we provide, guiding you through the different services available from the NHS.
The Practice Complaints Manager is: The Practice Manager
