Practice Complaints Procedure

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 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 the 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 that this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to Mrs Enid Griffiths, Practice Manager or any of the Doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mrs Griffiths in order to discuss your concerns. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

We shall acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall 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.

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.