We welcome all comments on the services provided by the Practice.

We are continually looking to turn our patients’ feedback into real improvements in the services we provide. We use it to focus on the things that matter most to our patients, carers and their families.

We would like to hear from you if you have a suggestion on how we can do things better to improve our patients’ experiences. We’d also like to hear from you if you are pleased with the service you’ve received.

We’ll let the staff involved know and share the good practice across our teams.

Making a complaint

If you have any complaints or concerns about the service that you have received from the doctors or staff working for this practice, please let us know.

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. 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 12 months of the incident that caused the problem
• Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem

The practice manager, will be pleased to deal with any complaint.  She will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.  You can make your complaint:

• In writing – some complaints may be easier to explain in writing, please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of the practice manager, as soon as possible. You can use one of our complaint forms or you may prefer to set out your complaint in your own way.
• In person – a face to face meeting can be booked with the practice manager.

What we shall do

Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible.

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us.  We shall then be in a position 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 appropriate
• identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again

At the end of the investigation your complaint will be discussed with you in detail, either in person or in writing.

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 his or her permission to do so.  A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What you can do next

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

The Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) supports people who wish to complain about the NHS.  The local address is:

ICAS
17 Dean Street
Liskeard
Cornwall
PL14 4AB

Telephone: 01579 345193

If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you have the right to ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to review your case.  They can be contacted on 0345 015 4033. For more information you can visit www.ombudsman.org.uk.