Complaints Policy

 

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Comments & Complaints

We offer a Practice Complaints Procedure to deal with comments, suggestions and complaints about the service we provide. Please forward these to the Practice Manager. We aim to give you the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal with any problems that may occur. Charlton House Medical Centre Complaints Procedure will explain how you can make a complaint and how we will investigate the matters you have raised.

 

Escalation

Whilst most issues can be resolved within the practice with the people involved, if you still feel unsatisfied with the quality of care you can escalate the complaint.

How you make a complaint about primary care services has changed

The way to escalate complaints has changed and will not be taken through the NHS England. By primary care services we mean GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacy services. Instead, you can either:

  • complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery or dental surgery.
  • or you can complain to the commissioner of the service: this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.

If you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will need to contact North Central London Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England.

You can do this by:

  • Telephone: 020 3198 9743
  • Post: North Central London Integrated Care Board, Complaints Team, Laycock PDC, Laycock Street, London, N1 1TH

If you have a formal complaint to make, it is always advisable to try and resolve an issue directly with the provider in the first instance.

  • Patients with ongoing complaints received on/after 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that the ICB is now handling their complaint with confirmation of their case handler.
  • Patients with any ongoing complaints received before 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that their complaint is being retained by NHS England with confirmation of their case handler.

If you have any queries, please contact NHS England

You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is written into the NHS Constitution.

Find out more about how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service.

 

Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice-based complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints.

Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain:

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often 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 six months of the incident that caused the problem; or
  • Within twelve months of the incident or within twelve months after becoming aware of a cause for complaint.

Complaints should be addressed to Mohammed Al-Mahfuz– Practice Manager or to the doctor. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the manager in order to discuss your concerns. He will explain the complaints procedure to you and ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

Make a complaint

What we shall do:

We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to provide a timely detailed response thereafter, in which we will be able 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 this is appropriate.
  • Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.

Complaining on behalf of someone else:

Important

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 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.

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice-based complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our Practice. But this does not affect your right to approach the local Ombudsman, if you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.

Other means of complaining:

The Care Quality Commission

Learn more about The Care Quality Commission on their website

Health Service Ombudsman

If you remain unhappy after local resolution and independent review then you can complain to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is completely independent of both the NHS and Government.

Independent Complaints Advocacy Service – (ICAS) VoiceAbility

A new service was instituted by the government to assist those who wish to or are making complaints about the NHS – the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS).

In the London region, ICAS is being provided by the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. You determine how much you want from ICAS, be it advice, assistant or support.

The service is free and confidential and can be contacted via their head office at: