Emsworth Surgery

Patient Information Leaflet

Practice complaints procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service that you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in the practice, please let us know.  We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.  Our 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 Practice Manager, Peter Loveridge, or any of the doctors.  Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the Practice Manager in order to discuss your concerns.  He 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 shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of the date and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date 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 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.

Complaining to the Health Authority

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.  If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you have the right to ask the Healthcare Commission to review your case.  This should be done within two months of the receipt of this letter.  The Healthcare Commission is an independent body established to promote improvements in healthcare through the assessment of the performance of those who provide services.  You can contact the Healthcare Commission on 020 7448 9200 or write to them at Healthcare Commission, Complaints team, Peter House, Oxford St, Manchester M1 5AN or visit their website at www.healthcarecommission.org.uk.