Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the services 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 procedure meets national criteria.

Your complaint will remain confidential to members of the practice team and those we need to talk to for the process of resolving your complaint. Your complaint does not form part of your medical records and is kept separate from them.

How to raise your concern or complaint

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the people concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a formal complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible, 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 6 months of the incident that caused the problem, or
• Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, providing this is within 12 months of the incident

Where at all possible, all complaints should be in writing and be addressed to the Practice Manager, ideally by completing this online Complaint Form 

When telling us about your concerns, it will be of great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint, by giving times, dates, places, people involved etc.

If English is not your first language and you require an interpreter, please contact NHS Frimley ICB

If for any reason you do not want to speak to a member of our staff, then you can request that the local integrated care board investigates your complaint. They will contact us on your behalf, please contact NHS Frimley ICB

What we will do 

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of receipt and aim to have looked into the situation within a further 10 working days.  We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation. 

When we look into your complaint, we will aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

In some cases we will not be able to gather all the information required within 10 days especially if this involves a locum/deputizing doctor or a temporary member of staff.  In these instances we will offer an expected date by which we will reply fully to your complaint. 

If your complaint is about clinical treatment you have (or not) received, the complaint will be passed to a GP or nurse, who is able to make an appropriate clinical judgement and reply.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we stick strictly to the rules on 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.

Complaints against non-practice staff or procedures

If you are unhappy about the services you have received from organisations that are not under the practice control, such as the district nurses, health visitors, midwives, Out of Hours or any hospital services, please make your complaint directly to the service concerned. If you need help with where to direct your complaint, please contact the surgery and we will do our best to point you in the right direction. 

Taking your complaint further

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting things right and an opportunity to improve our practice.

However, is you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation or our response, you have the right to approach the Health Service Ombudsman to ask them to carry out an independent review of your complaint.

• You can also obtain advice from Healthwatch West Sussex which provides a free and independent health complaints Advocacy service (IHCAS). This helps local people explore options for getting their voice heard when they feel something has gone wrong with their health care. IHCAS Telephone number: 0300 012 0122.
• NHS England can be contacted on 0300 311 2233 or via the NHS England website
• Central and South Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) can be contacted on 0844 477 1171 
• The Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW19 4QP. Complaints Helpline: 03450 154033 or visit the Ombudsman website