Information guide. How to make a complaint

Transcription

1 Information guide How to make a complaint

2 How to make a complaint We always aim to provide you with the best service possible. We are committed to the consistent development and improvement of our services, so your concerns and complaints are always welcome.

3 If you have a concern or complaint about the service you have received from the doctors, nurses, or any of the staff working in our service please let us know. We operate a complaints procedure as part of the National Health Service system for dealing with complaints. How to complain We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly 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 six months of the incident that caused the problem; or within six months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that no more than 12 months has elapsed from the date of the incident. Written complaints should be addressed to the service manager or customer care manager who will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that

4 your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint. You can find full contact details on the back of this leaflet. What we will do We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. If we cannot offer a full explanation at this stage we will contact you to agree a reasonable timescale for a full response. For instance, it may take longer to investigate a complaint that involves a number of issues. We will keep you updated throughout any investigation and when it is complete we will be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint we aim to: find out what happened and what went wrong; arrange for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like us to do so; make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate; and identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again. If you feel that you have not had a satisfactory response or outcome to your complaint, from

5 the service you are using, you may appeal to Virgin Care Limited. To do so please contact the governance manager at Virgin Care head office and provide as much detail as possible about your complaint. Virgin Care, Governance Manager 6400 Daresbury Business Park Warrington WA4 4GE Complaining on behalf of someone else Please note that we strictly keep 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 or are a parent or carer with parental responsibility. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness or disability) of providing this. Complaining to the NHS We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our complaints procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our service. Submitting a concern or complaint in no way affects your right to approach the NHS

6 if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. If you wish to complain to your local NHS please contact your local Patient Advice and Liaison (PALS) Team and ask to speak to the complaints lead. Your local advocacy service Independent specialist advice is available to help you through the NHS complaints process. It is a free, independent service that can help you make a complaint about any NHS treatment or service. If you would like to be put in contact with your local advocacy service, please contact us using the details on the back of this leaflet or ask at reception and they will be more than happy to give you the details. Care Quality Commission (CQC) You also have the right to report any dissatisfaction or concerns to the CQC which is the independent regulator of health and adult social care services in England. If you do write to the CQC, they can use the information provided to investigate the service and use their legal powers to ensure the service improves to meet important

7 standards of quality and safety. However it is important to note that they will not be able to respond directly to individual complaints. Care Quality Commission National customer service centre Citygate, Gallowgate Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4PA t: e:

8 Who to contact Virgin Care Customer Services Bournewood House Guildford Road Chertsey Surrey KT16 0QA t: f: e: