How to make a complaint about our service Patient information leaflet Complaints Team Room 170 Penn Lloyd Building County Hall Leicester LE3 8TB Tel: 0116 295 0831 Email: complaints@leicspart.nhs.uk You can also contact us by using our online form at https://feedback.leicspart.nhs.uk/complaint
This leaflet explains what to do if you have a complaint about any aspect of our service. We treat all complaints seriously and aim to resolve them as quickly and fully as we can. Making a complaint will not affect your future care or treatment at the Trust. Talk it through The first thing you should do, if you feel able, is to talk to a member of staff at the place the care or service was provided to try to resolve things. If you would rather talk to someone outside the service you can contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) If your concerns have not been resolved, or you don t feel able to speak directly with staff, you can contact the PALS team who are open from 9am - 4pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays): Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Room 170 Penn Lloyd Building County Hall Leicester LE3 8TB Tel: 0116 295 0830 Email: pals@leicspart.nhs.uk They can talk to our staff on your behalf to try resolve matters immediately. PALS can also provide you with contact details of organisations that can help you to make a complaint if this is what you decide to do. 2
How do I make a complaint? If you want to make a complaint, please do so as soon as you can as it will be easier for us to investigate and respond to your concerns. Please note that we will usually only investigate complaints that are made within a year of when you became aware that things went wrong or experienced a poor service. You can have an advocate, friend or relative representing or supporting you through the complaints process. NHS Complaints Advocacy can give you free advice and support about making complaints. This service is independent of the NHS and it will not pass on any information you have discussed without your permission. Its contact details are at the end of this leaflet. If you are complaining on behalf of a friend or relative, we will need their consent before we can disclose their personal health information to you. To help us to investigate your complaint please give us as much information as you can about the situation and include your name, address, preferred method of contact and how you would like us to put things right. What will you do with my complaint? When we receive your complaint we may need to contact you to obtain any extra information and to discuss the length of time it will take to look into your concerns. Sometimes it may become necessary during the investigation, to agree an alternative timescale. We will acknowledge complaints within three working days and carry out a full investigation. This will involve an investigating officer looking at the facts relating to your concerns and they may need to contact you to clarify them. They will assess the evidence available, speak to the staff involved and look at the medical records if appropriate. When we have finished the investigation you will receive a response to your complaint in the method you requested. 3
What can I do if I am unhappy with your response? Tell us Let us know if you are not happy with our response. We will look again at any issues that you feel we have not dealt with properly and answer any other questions you may have. We may also be able to arrange for you to meet relevant managers and senior medical or nursing staff to discuss your complaint. This can help to clear up any areas of concern and answer any questions you may have about our response. Contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Finally, if after going through our complaints procedure, you are still not satisfied with the way we have dealt with your concerns, you have the right to ask the Health Service Ombudsman to review your complaint. However it is important to note that the Trust must be given a chance to address your concerns first. The contact details for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman are at the end of this leaflet. 4
Our commitment to you Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust aims to be open with our patients. If there is any problem with your treatment or care, we aim to tell you openly and honestly what has happened as soon as we can. Where necessary, we will carry out an investigation. In all cases we will give you information, try to answer your questions and tell you what we are doing to put the matter right. This applies whether we find out about a problem as it happens, from something that you tell us, or from investigating a complaint or incident. We, would like to assure you that your care will not be compromised as a result of you making a complaint. Your complaint will not be kept in your medical notes so will not affect your care in anyway. However if, at any point in the process, you are concerned that your care has been adversely affected as a result of you raising your concerns, please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). More information and advice NHS Complaints Advocacy (POhWER) PO Box 14043 Birmingham B6 9BL Tel: 0300 456 2370 Minicom: 0300 456 2364 Email: pohwer@pohwer.net www.pohwer.net Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Millbank Tower Millbank London SW1P 4QP Tel: 0345 015 4033 Textphone: 0300 061 4298 Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk www.ombudsman.org.uk 5
Arabic If you need this information in another language or format please telephone or email: Patient.Information@leicspart.nhs.uk Bengali Traditional Chinese Gujarati Hindi Polish Punjabi Somali Urdu Date implemented: November 2014 Last reviewed: June 2016 Review date: June 2018 Date implemented: September 2011 Review date: September 2013 Leaflet No. 118 - Edition 1 Leaflet No. 347 - Edition 3 Replaced leaflet 05 (Customer Services) - Edition 5 With thanks to King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for sharing their information