AYLESTONE HEALTH CENTRE
15 Hall Lane REVIEWED FEB 2024
LE2 8SF
0116 283 7825
AYLESTONE HEALTH CENTRE
Complaints Procedure
Making a Complaint
Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily with the person concerned, often at the time they arise, and this may be the approach you try first.
Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, giving as much detail as you can, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:
- Within 12 months of the incident.
If you are a registered patient, you can complain about your own care. You are not normally able to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority. See the separate section in this leaflet for what to do in this case.
We can provide you with a separate complaints form to register your complaint, and this includes a third-party authority form to enable a complaint to be made by someone else. Please ask at reception for this. You can provide this in your own format providing it covers all the necessary aspects.
Send your written complaint to:
Practice Manager Aylestone Health Centre
OR
From 1 July 2023 new changes have been introduced to the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner.
There are two ways you can make a complaint:
- You can complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery.
- You can complain to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB): this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.
After 1 July 2023 if you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will now contact LLR ICB instead of NHS England.
You can do this by:
Telephone: 0116 295 7572
Email: llricb-llr.enquiries@nhs.net
Writing to us at:
Corporate Governance Team
NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB) Room G30, Pen Lloyd Building
County Hall, Glenfield
Leicester, LE3 8TB.
NHS Complaints Advocacy Service – POhWER
https://www.pohwer.net/nhs-complaints-advocacy
POhWER_-_NHS_Advocacy_Complaints
What We Do Next
We aim to settle complaints as soon as possible.
We will usually acknowledge receipt within three working days and aim to resolve the matter as soon as possible but will give you some idea of how long that may take at the outset. You will then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet with the person(s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take longer than this, we will let you know, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.
When looking into a complaint, we attempt to see what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this and make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you wish to do so.
When the investigations are complete, a final written response will be sent to you.
Where your complaint involves more than one organisation (e.g., social services) we will liaise with that organisation so that you receive one coordinated reply. We may need your consent to do this. Where your complaint has been initially sent to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.
The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint and your right to refer the matter further to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (details shown elsewhere in this leaflet) if you remain dissatisfied with the response.
The practice Complaints Manager is:
Arron Minhas
Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else
We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it. In the event the patient is deceased, then we may agree to respond to the family member or anyone acting on their behalf or who has had an interest in the welfare of the patient.
Please ask at reception for the Complaints Form, which contains a suitable authority for the patient to sign to enable the complaint to proceed. Alternatively, we will send one to you to return to us when we receive your initial written complaint.
Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness, accident, or mental capacity, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances that prevent this in your covering letter.
Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express
permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply. You may also find that if you are complaining on behalf of a child who is capable of making their own complaint, we will expect that child to contact us themselves to lodge their complaint.
We may still need to correspond directly with the patient or may be able to deal directly with the third party. This depends on the wording of the authority provided.
The practice has a Duty of Candour to patients.
We will work hard to ensure that your complaint is dealt with sensitively and provide you with information in an open, honest, and transparent way.
Complaints are regularly discussed at our practice meetings and our team aim to learn how we may improve our service in future.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome
You have the right to approach the
Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman.
Their contact details are:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
30 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 0154033
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk
http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint (to complain online or download a paper form).
You may also approach PALS, Healthwatch or the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy for help or advice;
The local Healthwatch can be found at:
http://www.healthwatch.co.uk/
The IHCA is able to be contacted at: http://www.seap.org.uk/services/nhs-complaints-advocacy/
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
By phone: 0116 295 0830 (Monday to Friday 9.00am – 4:30pm) You can leave a voicemail message at any time and we will respond to you within 24 hours or sooner.
By email: lpt.pals@nhs.net
By post:
Freepost LPT Patient Experience (note: this is the full address and will reach us)