Comments and Complaints

Although we endeavour to give the best possible service there may be times when you feel you have received less than this.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from either the Doctors, or any of the staff working in the Practice, please let us know. We operate a Practice complaints procedure that meets national criteria and is part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our Practice Complaints and Compliments Leaflet gives full details of the procedure and can be obtained from Reception.

Likewise, if you feel we have provided a good service and you would like to tell us, then we would appreciate you doing this.

 

Complaints Procedure

Currently being reviewed as part of our ongoing commitment to our patients, please contact the surgery should you need any further information during this process.

Patient Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service that 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 the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our 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 formal 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.

You should normally make a formal complaint within twelve months of the event, or within twelve months of becoming aware that you have something to complain about. However, these time limits may be waived if there are good reasons why you could not complain earlier and if we are still able to investigate the complaint fairly and effectively in spite of the delay.

Formal complaints must be made in the first instance either orally or in writing to the Practice Manager - Mrs Jo Peters, or to any of the doctors. You can email southpark.medical@nhs.net please enter 'Formal Complaint' in the subject and mark for the attention of the Practice Manager.

 
What We Will Do

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days either orally or in writing and will offer to discuss the matter with you.

We will offer you a meeting with complaints lead, Dr Catherine Duncombe, to agree a timeframe for resolution and to reach an agreement with you on how you wish the complaint to be handled and the likely period for completion of the investigation and response to you. If you would prefer not to accept the offer of a discussion we will determine a specified response period and notify you in writing of that period.

We will aim to investigate and deal with all complaints efficiently and speedily. We will send you a written response with a report on the investigation as soon as reasonably practicable. If we are not able to meet the response deadline we have agreed with you, we will contact you to advise why and negotiate another timescale.

All oral complaints will be recorded in writing by the Practice and you will be provided with a copy of the written record.

When we look into your complaints, we will aim to:

  • find out what happened and what went wrong
  • advise you what we will do to put the matter right
  • make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate.
  • identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

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 the services provided by our Practice.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint at local level you can ask the Ombudsman to independently review your case by writing to:

The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Or email Phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk 
Or phone: 0345 015 4033
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

Although the Practice would welcome the opportunity to investigate your complaint, you may prefer to choose to make your complaint to the NHS Complaint Officer

NHS England (South East)
York House
18-20 Massetts Road
Horley 
Surrey 
RH6 7DE
England.curreysussexcomplaints@nhs.net

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

 
If Your Complaint is Not About the Surgery But About Another Service

If your complaint is not about the Practice but about another service, such as a community or hospital service you can contact the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Quality Team:

South East Commissioning Support Unit (SECSU)
Customer Services Team
Phone: 03000 424244
Email: secsu.complaints@nhs.net

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