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By postHow do I make a complaint?
Practice Complaints
If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from
the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know.
We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing
with complaints. Our complaints system meets 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 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 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
- within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.
Complaints should be addressed to the Complaints Administrator Mrs Jen Coups at the Barlow Medical Centre or any of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mrs Coups in order to discuss your concerns. She 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 are as specific as possible about your complaint.
What we do about your complaint
We shall acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten 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 happened and what went wrong;
- make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
- make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
- identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of 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.
Complaining to the health care commission
We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. But this does not affect your right to approach the health care commission, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.
You should contact the Healthcare Commission on 0845 601 3023 and they can send you a form to complete:
Freepost Nat 18958,
Healthcare Comission Complaints Investigation Team,,
Peter House,
5th Floor, Team, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 9AX
You can also visit their website at www.healthcarecommission.org.uk where you can access their patient information leaflet.
