Complaints

Comments, complaints and suggestions

 Our aim is to provide the highest level of care for all our patients.  We will always be willing to hear if there is any way that you think that we can improve the service we provide.

 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 operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria as laid down by the NHS.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and directly with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be resolved 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 this, please let us have details of your complaint:

• Within 12 months of the incident that is the cause of the problem; or
• Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem,

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of patient medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to be assured that you have his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the patient concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What you should do

The Practice Manager, Amanda Hazeldine, will be pleased to deal with any complaint.  She will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.  It will be a great help if you are specific as possible about your complaint. You can make your complaint:

• In person – ask to speak to Amanda Hazeldine.
• In writing / email – some complaints may be easier to explain in writing – please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of Amanda Hazeldine as soon as possible arburyroadsurgery@nhs.net

Our Commitment to You

We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within the time scale agreed with you.  The time taken to investigate your complaint will depend on its complexity and the number of people involved. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting if that is more appropriate. When we look into your complaint, we aim to:

• Find out what happened and what should have happened.
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned if this is your wish.
• Ensure the complaint is resolved to your satisfaction.
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate.
• Identify what needs to be done to ensure the problem does not arise again.

Our Principles are

• To get it right
• To be patient focussed
• To be open and accountable
• To act fairly and proportionately
• To put things right
• To seek continuous improvement

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure to ensure it is resolved. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.

This however does not affect your right to approach the local Cambridge & Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.

NHS England

If you have tried to resolve your complaint at local level and this has failed, you can also register an official complaint with NHS England via the complaints manager at:

NHS England, Customer Contact Centre, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT

Telephone: 0300 311 22 33

E-mail: england.contactus@nhs.net

Issues With Other NHS Organisations

For support and help regarding issues with other NHS organisations, The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) provides

• Advice and support to patients, their families and carers
• Information on NHS services
• Listens to concerns, suggestions or queries
• Help to sort out problems quickly.

The Independent Complaints Advocacy Service

r information and help in making a complaint you can contact POhWER who are the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS), postal address: NHS Complaints Advocacy, PO Box 14043, Birmingham B6 0BL. Telephone: 0300 456 2370,

Fax: 0300 456 2365,  Minicom: 0300 456 2364, E-mail: pohwer@pohwer.net .

   The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

If your complaint is not resolved by the Practice it can be referred to The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. All records will have to be provided to the Ombudsman to assist with the resolution of your complaint. www.ombudsman.org.uk, Tel: 0345 015 4033 or The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP.