THE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in the practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

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 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 this is within twelve months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to Hilary Ford, Practice Manager or any of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Hilary Ford in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are 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 when 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 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 does not 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. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to NHS North of Tyne (Northumberland)

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, but this does not affect your right to approach the local NHS Care Trust if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or if you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact the Complaints Co-ordinator, NHS North of Tyne, Bevan House, 1 Esh Plaza, Sir Bobby Robson Way, Great Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE13 9BA. Telephone: 0191 217 2790. Email: complaints@northoftyne.nhs.uk

You may also like to contact the Patient Advocacy Liaison Service for help. Their address is: Old Stables, Greys Yard, Morpeth, NE61 1QD. Tel (freephone) 0800 032 02 02.