If you are unhappy with the treatment or service you have received from the NHS you are entitled to make a complaint, have it considered, and receive a response from the NHS organisation or primary care practitioner concerned.

 

A Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) has been established in every NHS Trust and primary care trust (PCT). PALS are not part of the complaints procedure itself but they might be able to resolve your concerns informally or can tell you more about the complaints procedure and independent complaints advocacy services.

 

The South Gloucestershire PALS Officer is Sarah Jenkins. You can contact her by telephone on 0117 330 2400

In writing at:

1 Monarch Court 

Emerald Park 

Emerson's Green 

Bristol

BS16 7FH

 

Lucy Jones - Corporate Services Manager

1 Monarch Court

Emerson's Green

Bristol

BS16 7FH

Local Resolution

The NHS complaints procedure covers complaints made by a person about any matter connected with the provision of NHS services by NHS organisations or primary care practitioners (GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists).

A complaint can be made by a patient or person affected or likely to be affected by the actions or decisions of a NHS organisation or primary care practitioner.

In certain circumstances a complaint can be made by someone acting on behalf of teh patient, or person. For instance if the patient/person is a child, has died, is unable to make the complaint themselves because of physical or mental incapacity (please refer to the Mantal Capacity Act, 2005, for a definition of this) or has requested that someone act on their behalf, a representative can complain for the patient/person.

You, or your representative, should complain within 12 months of the event(s) concerned, or within 12 months of becoming aware that you have something to complain about. Primary care practitioners have discretion to waive this time if there are good reasons why you could not complain earlier.

The first stage of the NHS complaints procedure is ‘Local Resolution’. Your complaint should be made in the first instance to the complaints manager, Mrs Anne Kinch, who is the Practice Manager of the Surgery. Local resolution aims to resolve complaints quickly and as close to the source of the complaint as possible using the most appropriate means.

You can also raise your concerns immediately by speaking to a member of staff (e.g. GP, nurse, receptionist etc) or someone else, e.g. the PALS. They may be able to resolve your concerns without the need to make a more formal complaint. Contact details for our local PALS officer are outlined above.

A complaint can be made verbally or in witing (this includes email) to the complaints manager. A written record will be kept of complaints made verbally by the complaints manager.

You will recieve a written or verbal response to your complaint within 3 working days and this will be documented. You will be given the opportunity to discuss the complaint further. You will be informed of the timescales involved throughout the complaints process.

Upon completion of the complaint investigation, you will recieve a written response to your complaint. Should you not be satisfied with the way your complaint was handled you can contact the Ombudsman (see below for details).

If you are unhappy with the response to your complaint, including a complaint about an NHS Foundation Trust, you can ask the Health Service Ombudsman to review your complaint. The Ombudsman are completely independent of the NHS and Government. You can contact the Ombudsman at: 

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Millbank Tower

Millbank

London

SW1P 4QP

Tel: 0845 015 4033

Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk