How to Complain
We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, 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 to know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matters of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish exactly 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, or to any of the partners. 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.
What We Will Do
We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and look into your complaint within ten working days of the date when you raised it with us, provided the appropriate personnel are not away from the surgery. 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 will aim to:
- find out what happened and what went wrong
- make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
- identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again
- arrange for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this. It may be helpful to use the services of an independent, trained conciliator appointed by the local Health Authority
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.
Further Steps
We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure, and we will reach a resolution of it locally. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However this does not affect your right to approach the Strategic Health Authority if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or if you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.
You should contact:
- The Complaints Manager
- East of England Strategic Health Authority
- Victoria House
- Capital Park
- Fulbourn
- Cambridge
- CB21 5XB
- Tel: 01223 597552
- Fax: 01223 597686
