Comments and Complaints
Comments:
We welcome your views and constructive suggestions which will help us improve our service to you. There is a suggestion / comments box located in reception for this purpose.
Practice Complaints Procedure:
If you have a complaint about the service you have received from any of the doctors or staff working at this Practice, please let us know. We operate a Practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our procedure meets national criteria.
We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, preferably 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 the most a few weeks, as 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 12 months of the incident that caused the problem, or
- Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem.
Complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager, Vanessa Graham in the first instance, or one of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the Practice Manager in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will ensure your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
Mechanism for dealing with a complaint:
We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days 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.
When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:
- Find out what had happened and what went wrong;
- Agree a plan on how your complaint will be dealt with and the timescales involved;
- 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 again.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Please note that we keep strictly within 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 or in the case of a minor.
Complaining to the Primary Care Trust:
We hope that if you have a grievance you will use our Practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of correcting whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our Practice. Nevertheless, this does not affect your right to approach Sunderland CCG.
If you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, you can raise the complaint through the NHS Customer Service Centre on 0300 311 2233.
In addition, ICAS (Independent Complaints Advocacy Service) are available to help you through the complaints process. Their services are free of charge and they can be contacted on 0808 802 3000 or at
Room 312, Aidan House, Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, NE8 3HU
If you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:
- By telephone: 0345 015 4033; or
- In writing to:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
London
SW1P 4QP; or
- By email: [email protected]