SUGGESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

Please note:

As you are all aware the current COVID-19 poses one of the greatest challenges that society has faced in recent times, and we have all had to make changes to our daily lives to ensure that we work together to protect the most vulnerable members of society.  At the Practice we have had to make a number of responsive changes following recent developments to ensure the maximum safety of our patients, and to protect our staff as much as possible to ensure that the NHS can keep working in an effective manner and can continue to provide the best level of care possible.

As such, during the current period of emergency measures many routine services will be subject to short notice change and many administrative tasks will be streamlined to ensure that we focus more of our time and resources on the delivery of care to those that need it the most.

As part of this streamlining of administration tasks, the Practice will be changing its complaints procedures, during this period of crisis.  As of the above date, we will now be reviewing complaints on a weekly basis, to ensure that any high priority complaints that fall within the following categories can be swiftly discussed and any resulting changes to our Practice can be immediately implemented:

• Immediate risks to patients or staff
• Actual harm to patient or “near miss” incident of high severity.
• Urgent safeguarding concerns
• Criminal actions

Should your complaint not fall into these categories, then it will be dealt with when we have capacity to do so, and unfortunately at this time, the timeframe for this is uncertain.  We appreciate your understanding whilst our Practice is dealing with unprecedented demand.

Practice Complaints Procedure

We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria. If your complaint is about someone not directly employed by the doctors i.e. District Nurse, Health Visitor or Midwife, a message can be passed on to them by our staff.

How to Complain

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, because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.

If this is not possible we need to have details of your complaint within twelve months of the incident and/or of you becoming aware that you have a problem.

The Complaints Manager (Operations Manager, Charlotte Norris) will retain the discretion to investigate complaints brought later, if there are good reasons for the delay and it is possible to carry out an investigation.

Complaints should be addressed, in writing, to the Operations Manager or any of the doctors. Alternatively you may ask for an appointment with the Operations Manager in order to discuss your concerns. The complaints procedure will be explained to you and we will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. Please be as specific as possible about your complaint.

What we will do 

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date you raised it with us. We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint we will 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 recieve an apology where this is appropriate
•  Identify what we can do to make sure there is no reoccurence.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

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. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

We hope that if you have a problem you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure and will address your complaint to:

Operations Manager, Langport Surgery, North Street, Langport, Somerset, TA10 9RH

Tel: 01458 250464 to book an appointment with the Operations Manager to discuss your complaint or send an Email.

However if you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can contact The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, 30 Millbank, Westminster, London, SW1P 4QP
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Ombudsman website
Tel: 0345 015 4033

You can contact Swan Advocacy for help and support with your complaint:

Swan Advocacy, Hi Point, Thomas Street, Taunton, TA2 6HB
Email: somerset@swanadvocacy.org.uk
Swan Advocacy website
Tel: 03333 447928