If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this GP surgery, please let us know. This includes Primary Care Network staff working as part of our GP surgery. We operate a complaints 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 when they arise and with the person concerned. For example, by requesting a face-to-face meeting to discuss your concerns.
If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible. By making your complaint quickly, it is easier for us to establish what happened. 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 GP surgery team verbally or in writing. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the GP surgery to discuss your concerns. They will explain the complaints procedure to you and make sure your concerns are dealt with promptly. Please be as specific as possible about your complaint.
What we will do
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will aim to have investigated your complaint within ten working days of the date you raised it with us. We will then offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved, if you would like this. When we investigate your complaint, we will aim to:
– Find out what happened and what went wrong.
– Make it possible for you to discuss what happened 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
We take medical confidentiality seriously. Please note, if you wish to complain on behalf of someone else, the practice adheres strictly with GDPR, therefore, written consent from the patient will be required prior to commencing the complaints process. There are some exclusions from this, if the patient does not have mental capacity.
Complaining to NHS England
You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, this is written into the NHS Constitution on GOV.UK.
There are two ways you can make a complaint:
– You can complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery or dental surgery.
– You can complain to the commissioner of the service: this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.
If you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will now contact the Black Country Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England.
You can do this by:
Telephone: 0300 0120 281
Email: bcicb.time2talk@nhs.net
Writing to us at: Time2Talk, NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) Civic Centre, St Peter’s Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SH.
If you want to make a complaint directly to the provider of the primary care service, you still can.
If you have an ongoing complaint placed on or after 1 July 2022, you will receive a letter from NHS England informing you that the Black Country ICB is now handling your complaint, this will include confirmation of your case handler.
If you have an ongoing complaint placed before 1 July 2022, you will receive a letter from NHS England informing you that your complaint is being retained by NHS England, this will include confirmation of your case handler.
Unhappy with the outcome of your complaint?
If you are not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with by the GP surgery and NHS England and would like to take the matter further, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The PHSO makes final decisions on unresolved complaints about the NHS in England. It is an independent service which is free for everyone to use.
To take your complaint to the Ombudsman, visit the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website or call 0345 015 4033.
Further information on complaining can be found here.