River Lodge & Anchor Field Surgeries
www.riverlodge-ringmersurgeries.co.uk
Let us know your views
For patients, relatives, carers and friends
The following leaflet tells you how to:
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provide us with your compliments and positive feedback
make comments or suggestions
make a formal complaint
Your views are very important to us as they can help us to improve
our service for all our patients.
Positive feedback, comments & suggestions
If you are pleased with the care you have received, please tell us. Positive
feedback is just as important to us to ensure we know what is working well for
our patients. If you have any positive feedback, or comments or suggestions
about how we can improve our services, please let us know. To do this, you
can:
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Talk to staff
Complete a Patient Feedback form available at Reception or our website
How to make a complaint
Concerns should be raised in the first instance to the Practice Manager.
However, if your complaint cannot be easily solved, or is more complex, you
can make a formal complaint.
Your complaint will need to provide full written details of your concerns and
your contact details (including contact telephone number) so that we can
provide a response. Your written complaint should be sent to:
Practice Manager, River Lodge Surgery, Malling Street, Lewes, BN7 2RD
or via email: [email protected]
Making a formal complaint will not affect the care or service provided to you
or your relative and, where appropriate, we will use any findings to improve
patient care
What is the complaint process?
The NHS has a three stage procedure for dealing with complaints:
Stage 1- Acknowledging a complaint
We aim to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days
of recieving it.
Stage 2- Investigating your complaint
The Practice Manager will work with staff to thoroughly investigate your
complaint
Stage 3- Responding to your complaint
We aim to provide a full written response to your complaint within 25
working days. If we are unable to complete our investigation within the
promised time, we will contact you to inform you of the reason for the delay.
If you feel that we have not answered your complaint in our written response,
please write back, or telephone us and we will look at your complaint again.
We can also offer you a meeting to discuss your complaint further if this is
preferred.
NHS Complaint Procedure Exclusions
There are issues which cannot be dealt with under the NHS complaints
procedure and these include:
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A complaint made more than 12 months after the event, or 12 months after
realising you have something to complain about;
A complaint which has previously been investigated and closed;
A complaint which is being, or has been, investigated by the Parliamentary
and Health Service Ombudsman;
A complaint arising out of the Practice’s alleged failure to comply with a
Data Subject Request under the Data Protection Act 1998 or a request for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Making a complaint on someone’s behalf
If you are complaining on behalf of another person (relative, friend or person
you are caring for), we will need their written consent before we can disclose
their personal health information to you, including children aged 16 years and
over. A form will be sent to you with our acknowledgement of your complaint.
We will be unable to respond to your complaint until we receive this
authorisation.
Help with making a complaint
If you need help making a complaint, or you need more information about the
NHS Complaints procedure, you can contact SEAP (Support, Empower,
Advocate and Promote) in the following ways:
SEAP
Upper Ground Floor
Aquila House
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 3UY
Tel: 0330 440 9000
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 01424 204687
Complaining to other authorities
The Practice hopes that if patients have a complaint, they will use the Practice
Complaint Procedure, however if you feel you cannot raise your complaint
with the Practice, you can do so via NHS England:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Tel:
Email:
0300 311 22 33
[email protected]
(please state ‘For the attention of the
Complaint’s Team’ in the subject line)
Website: www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/
Once complainants have made a formal complaint via their GP Practice they
cannot request further investigation through NHS England.
Care Quality Commission
If you have a genuine concern about a staff member or regulated activity
carried out by this Practice then you can contact the Care Quality Commission
on 0300 061 6161, or alternatively visit the following website:
www.cqc.org.uk
What if Local Resolution is unsuccessful?
If you feel your complaint has not been resolved at Practice level, or via NHS
England, you may choose to take the matter to the Parliamentary and Health
Service Ombudsman via the following contact details:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower, Millbank, SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 015 4033 / Textphone: 0300 061 4298
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk
Patient Confidentiality
During the investigation of your complaint, information from your medical
records may need to be disclosed to staff investigating your complaint. If you
choose to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman, information from your
medical records may also need to be disclosed to them. Only information
relevant to your complaint will be disclosed.