Feedback and Complaints

How was your experience at the surgery?

We hope you had a good experience when accessing our services. We value all feedback from patients and greatly appreciate positive comments submitted to us and shared with others.

If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions please feel free to speak to any member of staff, or ask for a card at reception which you can then put into the suggestion box, or write to Lucie Lehane

You can also leave us a Google Review. Please do not submit complaints on google or social media channels, as we are unable to respond to them in a meaningful way.

You can leave us your comments in a number of ways:

If you wish to submit your feedback directly to us or you have a complaint to make, you can:

Complaints

If you have a complaint or are concerned about the care you have received from the doctors, nurses or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know.  We value comments and we rely on feedback from our patients in order to improve our service.

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, preferably 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 details of your complaint:

  • Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem.
  • Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem, if more than 12 months

You can ask for an appointment with the Practice Manager to discuss your concerns.  She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.

You can make a complaint:

  • In person  – ask to speak to the practice manager.
  • In writing – some complaints may be easier to explain in writing. Please give as much information as can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of the practice manager as soon as possible.

What We Will Do

Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have investigated your complaint as soon as possible. We aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days. We shall then 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 appropriate.
  • Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.

At the end of the investigation your complaint will be discussed with you in detail, either in person or in writing.

Complaining On Behalf Of Someone Else

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 his or her permission to do so. A consent form signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this. Please let us know if this is the case.

Complaining to the commissioners

If you feel that you cannot raise your complaint with us, you can phone or write to the complaints department at South East London Integrated Care System. Their staff will aim try to sort out complaints and can make enquiries on your behalf.

Their contact details are:

Email: contactus@selondonics.nhs.uk
Tel: 0800 328 9712 or 0208 176 5337

Alternatively you can speak to the NHS Complaints Advocacy service (POhWER) that can assist you in making a complaint. They are available on the telephone on 0300 456 2370 via email at pohwer@pohwer.net

Taking your Complaint Further

If you are not happy with the way your complaint has been handled you can contact:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower,

Millbank
London,

SW1P 4QP

Tel.: 0345 0154033

Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

 

For more information about how to complain to the NHS, including other services, please see https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/how-to-complain-to-the-nhs/