Make a complaint

If you feel anxious about making a complaint yourself, you can always ask a relative or friend to make a complaint on your behalf. We will ask your relative or friend whether they have your permission to do this. We will ask you to sign a form, giving us permission to disclose your personal health information to your relative or friend.

Likewise, if you are not happy with the way a close friend or relative has been treated, you may make a complaint for them. However, you will need their permission to do this. Consent is not needed in situations where the person is not able to give permission, for example if the person is very young, if the patient has died, or is too ill.

The procedure covers the following:

• Hospital, Community and Ambulance NHS Trusts
• Family Health Services, including Family Doctors (GPs), NHS Dentists, Opticians, Pharmacists (chemists)
• Primary Care Trusts
• Private healthcare establishments if the treatment has been paid for by the NHS,
• Social Services

If you are unsure if the service you want to complain about is covered by the Health and Social Care complaints procedure, ask the service concerned, or seek advice from the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.

Before making a complaint, it is important to think about what you want to achieve, as the NHS complaints procedure can only deal with certain matters. Under the Health & Social Care complaints procedure, organisations can:

• carry out an investigation and offer an explanation for what happened
• offer an apology, or some other statement of regret
• take steps to put matters right and reassure you that they have done so

Under the Health & Social Care complaints procedure, organisations cannot:

• offer you financial compensation (except sometimes small, one-off payments, such as for lost property or for minor injuries sustained in the NHS)
• look at issues relating to discipline, eg whether a member of staff should be sacked
• ‘strike off’ a doctor or other health professional, or suspend their registration
• look at complaints about treatment provided privately unless it was paid for by the NHS

For further information about these points, please ask the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.

You should normally complain within twelve months of the incident you are concerned about, or within twelve months of you finding out that there was something to complain about. It is best to make your complaint as soon as possible, as memories will be fresher and it will be easier to investigate the facts. We may be willing to investigate complaints after this time if you have a good reason why you could not complain sooner, eg if you were not well enough to complain.

Many complaints will be resolved quickly and easily either on the spot or in a matter of days. The Department of Health expects that the length of time a complaint investigation will take will be agreed with you shortly after you make your complaint. However, if the complaint is more complex, this may take some weeks to investigate. A few particularly complex complaints may take several weeks to be resolved. Once the investigation has begun, we may find that the initial time agreed with you is not going to be long enough in which to carry out a thorough investigation. In these cases you will be contacted and advised about this.

If you find that the process is taking a long time, you may feel frustrated and annoyed and want to give up, but try to keep going as that is the only way you can make sure that matters will be resolved. You will be kept informed about the progress of your complaint.

Although it is important to tell an organisation when you are unhappy with the services you have received, it is also important to let staff know when you are pleased with your care and treatment so that they can develop good practice and improve the quality of care. Writing a letter of thanks to staff will encourage staff to do their job well. Similarly, if you are writing a letter of complaint, but there were some aspects of your care or treatment that you were happy with, you may want to say something about this too.

The Health & Social Care complaints procedure has two main stages:

• local resolution
• independent review.

At the local resolution stage, it is the responsibility of the organisation to look into and respond to your complaint. One of the aims of local resolution is to try and sort out any problem as quickly and informally as possible. In some cases, a word with an appropriate member of staff is all that is needed to put things right.

If you make a complaint to a member of staff, it is a good idea to make a note of when you did this, to whom you spoke and how the matter was dealt with. It is useful to have a record of this if you need to take the complaint further at a later date.

If you do not wish to speak to a member of ‘frontline’ staff, or if you were unhappy with how they dealt with your concerns, you can take your complaint to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service of the organisation. Every organisation is required to have a named person responsible for dealing with complaints and they will be able to advise you about the process. You may be given the name and telephone number of a link person when you make your complaint and any further contact regarding your complaint should be directed through this named link.

If you feel the matter is very serious, you may want to make a more formal complaint in writing to the Chief Operating Officer. It is helpful if you make a formal complaint in writing, but if you have difficulty doing this you can make your complaint verbally. Your concerns will be written down in a statement, which you will be asked to sign.When you have written your letter you can send it to:

or

If you wish to complain about more than one part of health or social services, for example two different NHS Trusts or a GP and a Trust, you could address your complaint to one of the organisations and they will approach the other organisation and a joint response will be formulated. All the organisations should work together in the investigation and resolution of the complaint.

If your complaint is regarding your health treatment, you may wish to obtain a copy of your health records to find out more about the background to your complaint and to confirm the factual details. There is usually a charge for this. You have a right to see your health records under the Data Protection Act 1998. For further information about accessing your health records, you should contact the NHS organisation concerned, the Medical Records Manager, or the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.

You do not need to write a long and very detailed letter, but you should include all the points you want to complain about. You should tell the organisation:

• who or what you are complaining about. Try to make clear the most important points. If you are complaining about a member of staff, give their name and their position if you know it
• where and when the events you are complaining about happened
• what you have already done about your complaint, if anything
• what results you want from your complaint

Think about asking a friend to read through your letter before you send it to check that it is clear, or ask your local Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) to have a look at it. This service can be contacted by telephoning 0300 456 8349.

• Citizens Advice Bureau
  Your local Citizens Advice Bureau, voluntary organisation, Action for Victims of Medical Accidents (AVMA), can give you information about making a complaint.You can find your local Citizens Advice Bureau in the phone book.
• Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS)
  This is a client centred service, which offers free information, advice and support to people wanting to make a complaint against the NHS. For further information, call 0300 456 8349.
• Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
  Your local PALS who can: help with any concerns you may have, provide the information you need, point you in the right direction and explain how to make a formal complaint. Patient Advice and Liaison Service staff can be contacted by phone on 01226 432430 and or in person by visiting their office which is situated at:
  
  Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  Gawber Road
  Barnsley S75 2EP