Burnham Surgery is always looking for ways to improve the services it offers to patients. To do this effectively, the practice needs to know what you think about the services you receive. Tell us what we do best, where we don’t meet your expectations plus any ideas and suggestions you may have. Only by listening to you can the practice continue to build and improve upon the service it offers.
- Could you easily get through on the telephone?
- Did you get an appointment with the practitioner you wanted to see?
- Were you seen within 20 minutes of your scheduled appointment time?
- Were our staff helpful and courteous?
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the service you have received from any member of staff working in this practice, please let us know. The practice operates a complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.
If you make a complaint, it is practice policy to ensure you are not discriminated against or subjected to any negative effect on your care, treatment or support.
How to complain
In the first instance please discuss your complaint with the staff member concerned. Where the issue cannot be resolved at this stage, please contact Sarah Hill, practice manager who will try to resolve the issue and offer you further advise on the complaints procedure. If your problem cannot be resolved at this stage and you wish to make a formal complaint please let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of days. This will enable the practice to get a clear picture of the circumstances surrounding the complaint.
If it is not possible to raise your complaint immediately, please let us have details of your complaint within the following timescales:
- Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem.
- Within 12 months from when the complaint comes to your notice.
The practice will acknowledge your complaint within three working days.
The practice will arrange a meeting with you to discuss the complaint, to agree with you how the complaint is going to be investigated and the timescale for this to be completed.
When the practice looks into your complaint it aims to:
- Ascertain the full circumstances of the complaint.
- Make arrangements 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 the practice can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Burnham Surgery keeps strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, the practice needs to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be required, unless they are incapable of providing this due to illness or disability.
Complaining to other authorities
The practice management team hope that if you have a problem you will use the practice complaints procedure. However, if you are dissatisfied with the response received from us, you can contact any of the following bodies:
NHS Complaints
NHS Complaints Manager
NHS England
PO BOX 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Telephone: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [email protected] (with ‘For the attention of the complaints manager’ in the subject line)
Care Quality Commission
If you have a genuine concern about a staff member or regulated activity carried on by this practice, you can contact the Care Quality Commission.
Telephone: 03000 616161
Website: www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us
Voice Ability – An NHS Complaints Advocacy
Please use the link below to take you directly to their website.
https://www.voiceability.org/about-advocacy/types-of-advocacy/nhs-complaints-advocacy
POhWER – An NHS Complaints Advocacy
Please use the link below to take you directly to their website
https://www.pohwer.net/nhs-complaints-advocacy
Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS)
PALS provide a confidential service designed to help patients get the most from the NHS. PALS can tell you more about the NHS complaints procedure and may be able to help you resolve your complaint informally. You can write to:
PALS
Ground Floor Atrium
University College Hospital
235 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BU
Email: [email protected]
Ombudsman
If you have not received a satisfactory response from this practice, your local Clinical Commissioning Group, or NHS England, you can then refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman who investigates complaints about the NHS in England.
Telephone: 0345 015 4033
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk