How to make a complaint

Patient Information Leaflet

Practice Complaints Procedure

 

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from any of the doctors or staff working within this Practice, please let us know.  We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure in line with the NHS system for dealing with complaints which meets with National Criteria.

 

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 ask that you let us know as soon as possible as this will enable us to establish more easily what has happened.  If this is not possible your complaint should be made;

• Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem, or
• Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that this is within 12 months of the incident causing the problem.

Complaints may be addressed to any of our staff or put in writing to the Practice Manager.  You may also request an appointment with Dr Bhatti (Complaints Manager) or Lynne Jardine, Practice Manager (Deputy Complaints Manager).  They will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.  It will be a great help if you can be as specific as possible in your complaint.  Clinical complaints will be dealt with by a doctor but not the doctor against whom the complaint is being made.

 

What We Shall Do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of receiving it and aim to have looked into your complaint and responded to it within 20 working days of the date that you raised the complaint with us.  We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people concerned.  We will contact you within 20 working days to inform you if we need longer to investigate your complaint before we offer a meeting or explanation.

When we investigate your complaint, we 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 to do this
• Make sure that you receive a sincere apology where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to remedy the problem and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

 

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please not that we keep strictly to the rules on clinical confidentiality and Data Protection.  If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we need to know that you have their permission to do so.  A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (due to physical or mental illness) of providing this.

 

Complaining to the NHS Board

We hope that if you have a problem with us, you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure as this gives us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and thereby improve our services.  If you feel that this approach has not appropriately answered your complaint, you have the right to approach the local NHS Board Complaints Officer.

 

Independent Advice and Support

The Patient Advice & Support Service (PASS) is an independent advice service which can be accessed via your local Citizens Advice Bureau office

 

What if you are still unhappy?

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling or the outcome of your complaint, you may seek a review by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.  The contact details for this service are;

 

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

Freepost EH641

Edinburgh

EH3 0BR

Telephone:  0800 377 7330

Email:            ask@spso.org.uk

Website:      www.spso.org.uk