Complaints Procedure

As a patient of the NHS you have a right to:

• Have your complaint dealt with efficiently
• Have your complaint properly investigated
• Be informed of the outcome of your complaint
• Take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the outcome

How to complain (Local Resolution)

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 by writing to the Practice Manager.

Alternatively, you can phone the surgery on 01403 274700 and ask to speak to the management team.

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and offer to make arrangements to discuss your concerns. We will also give you an idea of how long our investigation may take

We will then investigate your complaint within the practice.

We will send you a response explaining the outcome of our investigation and any actions to be taken as a result

We will aim to have looked into your complaint within 20 working days of the date when you raised it with us. 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

Please note that 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. Written consent signed  by the person concerned will be needed.

Help and Advice

Healthwatch West Sussex - Health Complaints Advocacy Service

We hope that we will be able to deal with a complaint to everyone's satisfaction but you can approach Healthwatch West Sussex should this not be the case. Healthwatch West Sussex provides a free and independent health complaints advocacy service (IHCAS) which helps local people explore options for getting their voice heard when they feel something has gone wrong with their health service.

Visit IHCAS and Healthwatch West Sussex

What to do if you are not happy with our response

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 right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.

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

Visit the Ombudsman website