Comments
We welcome your views and constructive suggestions which will help us improve our service to you. There is a suggestion / comments box located on the Reception Counter for this purpose. Occasionally, we also gain feedback via research questionnaires.
Compliments
We like to hear both positive and negative comments from our patients.
If you would like to compliment any of our practice team members or any services we provide, experiences that have worked well or proved exceptionally helpful, we would be happy to hear from you. All compliments are shared amongst our staff to encourage positive experiences gained from patients.
Practice Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint about the service you have received from any of the staff working at this Practice, please let us know.
We operate a Practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our procedure meets national criteria.
If you feel you need to complain
We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, preferably 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 the most a few weeks, as this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.
If it is not possible to do that, the periods of time within which a complaint can be made is normally:
- 12 months from the date on which the event / incident which is the subject of the complaint occurred; or
- 12 months from the date on which the event / incident which is the subject of the complaint comes to your notice.
All complaints are dealt by Doctor Ng, the Practice Complaints Manager. For less serious complaints, please make an appointment to see him after clinic hours to discuss your concerns as soon as possible.
Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with The Practice Manager if your concern is to do with the Doctor himself.
Serious complaints should be addressed to Doctor Ng who will ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Wherever possible the patient or person directly involved should make the complaint. Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so. Written consent from the patient will be required (unless there is incapacity through illness) before we can give any information to a third party.
What we will do when we receive your complaint
We will try to acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days beginning with the day on which the complaint was received or, where that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable.
The Practice will investigate the complaint efficiently and as far as reasonably practicable. We aim to resolve any complaints as soon as possible, this may involve discussion by telephone or, a meeting at the surgery with the people involved.
When we investigate your complaint, we shall aim to:
- Find out what had happened and what went wrong;
- Agree a plan on how your complaint will be dealt with and the timescales involved (there's no set timeframe, and this will depend on the nature of your complaint);
- If, in the end, the response is delayed for any reason, you should be kept informed.
- Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
- Make sure you receive an apology where that is appropriate;
- Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.
Complaining to Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB)
We hope that if you have a grievance, you will use our Practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of correcting whatever has gone wrong and give us an opportunity to improve our Practice.
Nevertheless, this does not affect your right to contact Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us.
The contact details are as follows:
- Telephone: 01268 594444
- E-mail: Mseicb.complaints@nhs.net
- In writing to: Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System · Phoenix House, Christopher Martin Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 3HG
Complaining to the Ombudsman
If you are dissatisfied with the way your complaint has been dealt with by the Practice or Mid and South Essex ICB, you have the right to take your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of the NHS and of government:
- Telephone: 0345 015 4033; or
- In writing to: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP; or
- E-mail:: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Advocacy Service for NHS Complaints
Healthwatch are available to provide information and support to patients, their families and carers and can be particularly helpful if you do not want to make a formal complaint but still want to raise a concern or ask for information:
www.healthwatchsouthend.co.uk
Telephone 01702 416 320 between 9.00 am & 5.00 pm Monday to Friday
Email: info@healthwatchsouthend.co.uk