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 complaint procedure as part of an 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 written 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 as this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do this then please let us have details of your complaint:

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

Written complaints / Telephone complaints / Complaint meeting

Writing a complaint

Complaints concerning all areas of reception can be addressed to our lead receptionist, Paula Bird. Complaints concerning any areas of nursing can be addressed to our lead nurse, Sylvia Harwood. If you prefer complaints can to be addressed to the practice manager, Valerie Leach, or any of the partners via email bhccg.sevendialsmedicalcentre@nhs.net.

Telephoning a complaint

Call us on 01273 773089 and leave your contact details and details of your complaint, the appropriate person will then get back to you.

Meeting to discuss a complaint

An appointment can be made to discuss your complaint with the practice manager and the person(s) you are complaining about or if you are complaining about any other areas of the surgery we will find the most suited person(s) to meet and discuss this with you. We would need details of the complaint so we can look into it prior to a meeting so please ring on 01273 773089 and ask to speak to Valerie Leach.

What we shall do

We shall endeavour to acknowledge your complaint in writing within 2 to 3 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 30 working days. We should then be in a position to offer you a written explanation. When looking into your complaint we shall aim to:

• Investigate and find out what happened and went wrong.
• Explain how it has been resolved & what appropriate action has been taken.
• Endeavour to give you a written explanation within ten working days and an apology where this is appropriate.
• Identify what we can do to make sure this does not happen again.

Unreasonable complaints

Where a complainant becomes aggressive or despite effective complaint handling unreasonable in their promotion of the complaint, some or all of the following formal provisions will apply:

• The complaint will be managed by one named individual who will be the only contact for the patient.
• Contact will be limited to one method (i.e. writing / telephone etc.).
• There will be a time limit on each contact made.
• The number of contact times made will be restricted.
• A witness will be present for each contact time.
• Repeated complaints about the same issue will be refused.
• We will only acknowledge correspondence regarding a closed matter, not respond to it.
• There will be behaviour standards put in place.
• Any irrelevant documentation will be returned to the complainant.

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 his/her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable through illness to provide this.

Complaining outside of the surgery

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 things right, whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. But this does not affect your right to approach an outside organisation for complaints if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of the investigation. You can contact:

NHS England – Complaints Team
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Telephone: 0330 311 2233
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Complaining to The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

If you are still dissatisfied you can write to:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman at Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Other complaints

If your complaint is about the commissioning of NHS services including the GP out of hours service, continuing healthcare, patient transport and funding for treatment not normally funded by the NHS please re-send your email to sscsu.complaints@nhs.net.

Complaints about services provided by hospitals or community health trusts should be sent to the individual trusts’ complaints team direct. Contact details for each trust can be found on the NHS website: www.nhs.uk.

Annual review by the practice

We hold an annual review of all complaints received each year:

• We review the number of complaints received.
• We do an analysis of justified and unjustified complaints.
• We log any know referrals to a further complaints body.
• We discuss learning points from each complaint.
• We review our methods of complaint management.
• We review any changes to procedure, policies or care we have made.