How to make a complaint and how we deal with complaints

We know things don’t always go right. If you’re really worried, upset or unhappy about something we’ve done, you can make a complaint. 

How do I make a complaint about the NHS?

First of all, try speaking to one of the health workers who are looking after you. Sometimes a problem can be sorted out on the spot.
If you don’t want to do this, don’t worry. There are other ways to complain. You can:

• speak to someone in charge at your GP surgery or hospital (for example, you can make a complaint to the manager of your doctor’s surgery)
• complain directly to your health board. 

  

You can make a complaint in person, by phone or in writing.To get the right contact details you can:

• ask any member of staff about how to make a complaint
• phone the NHS helpline on 0800 22 44 88 (textphone 18001 0800 22 44 88)
• visit your health board’s website
• look for the leaflet ‘Making a complaint about the NHS’. This leaflet has local contact details for complaints teams in your area. It should be available in any place where you get health care, or you can get it online (www.hris.org.uk).

What do I need to tell you when I make a complaint?

Please give us as much information as you can. This will help us look into your complaint as quickly as possible. We will ask for your name and address so that we can let you know how we are dealing with your complaint.

Please let us know:

• your name
• what happened
• when and where it happened
• the names of any staff involved
• your address. If you don’t want us to write to your home address, you can:
  • give us the address of someone you trust. Remember to ask them if it’s OK before you do this 
  • ask us to contact you by email. Not all complaints teams can contact you this way but you have the right to ask.

If you would like help to make a complaint, look at the list of useful contacts.

What happens once I’ve made a complaint?

We handle all complaints in several stages. This means that everyone is treated fairly no matter where they live or what age they are.

• When you make a complaint, we will write to you within three working days. This is to let you know that we’re looking into your complaint and tell you what we plan to do next.
• We will do our best to deal with the complaint and then write to you again to let you know what’s happened. In this letter we will:
  • explain what we will do to stop this happening again to you or to anyone else
    
  • tell you if there are parts of your complaint that we can’t do anything about and explain why
  • apologise if we’ve done something wrong, and 
  • tell you what to do next if you’re unhappy with the result of your complaint.

Page last edited: 29 April 2010