Complaints Procedure

Although we try to give you the best possible service, there may be times when you feel you have received less than this. This leaflet explains the procedure to follow if you have a complaint about the services we provide but please note that our practice procedure for dealing with complaints is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. We would ask you to note that we do have to respect our duty of confidentiality to our patients. Therefore the patient’s consent must be obtained if a complaint is not made by the patient in person. The practice hopes that you will feel able to use our in-house complaints procedure to give us the opportunity to investigate and, if necessary, put right any problem or mistake that you have identified. We will, of course, carry out a full investigation of the matter and will offer you the opportunity to have an informal interview to discuss the complaint, investigations and our findings.

If you do wish to make a complaint in the first instance please write to our Practice Manager or telephone to discuss the matter. The Practice Manager will take full details of your complaint and decide how best to undertake the investigation. If you use our practice procedure it will not affect your right to complain to other parties if you so wish to. The necessary addresses are listed below.

It is important that we deal with complaints swiftly so your complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days and, if you wish to discuss matters in person, you will be offered an appointment for a meeting. If we have to make a lot of enquiries, it may take longer to get back to you with the result but we will keep you informed. You may bring a friend or relative with you to the interview. We hope that at the end of the meeting or our investigation you will feel satisfied that we have dealt with the complaint thoroughly.

However if this is not the case and you wish to continue with your complaint, we will direct you to the appropriate authorities who will be able to help you.

With your permission, we may wish to share the outcomes and lessons learned from your complaint with local colleagues in a anonymised form. You have the right to refuse permission for us to do so if you wish. We would like to assure you that this process in no way compromises your right as a patient of this Practice and that individual confidentiality will NOT be compromised.

Please let us know if you would rather we did not share comments with colleagues.

How to give feedback or make a complaint about NHS Services

There are two ways you can complain about NHS services:

1.    Directly with  your GP surgery:

o   Telephone 0208 894 6870

o   Electronically Use our Patient Triage, select ‘Admin – Something Else’, enter either the details of your complaint or if you have an electronic document enter the following ‘Link required for electronic complaint’

o   Postal address: Denise Bennett, Practice Manager, The Green & Fir Road Surgeries, 1B The Green, Twickenham, TW2 5TU

or

2.    Directly to the Commissioner of the service (e.g. South West London Integrated Care Board (SWLICB)):

o   Telephone 0800 026 6082

o   Email contactus@swlondon.nhs.uk

o   Postal address: NHS South West London, 120 the Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1RH

You cannot complain to both.

If you are unhappy with the local resolution from either your GP surgery, or the Commissioner, you can complain to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) NHS complaints in England.

For help making a complaint or to provide feedback, please see information at the link here:

NHS England » Feedback and complaints about NHS services

PALS:

Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Richmond Clinical Commissioning Group
Civic Centre
44 York St
Twickenham

Tel: 020 8734 3001

Email: ricccg.richmondpals@nhs.net

NHS Ombudsman

PHSO

Millbank Tower

Millbank

London

SW1P 4QP

0345 015 4033

www.ombudsman.org.uk