Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints 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. We ask that you discuss any initial concerns with our Reception team leaders. If they are not able to resolve your complaint or 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 most a few weeks because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.

If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

·         within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or

·         within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager or any of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the Practice Manager  in order to discuss your concerns. The Practice Manager will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

What we shall do

We shall endeavour to acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 28 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

·         find out what happened and what went wrong

·         make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;

·         make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;

·         identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.

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 and would require their written consent.

Complaining to the health authority

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 our practice. This does not affect your right to approach the local health authority, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation you should contact NHS  Frimley ICB on either 0300 561 0290 or email frimleyicb.southeastcomplaints@nhs.net

We will always do our utmost to resolve a complaint or concern that has been raised by our patients as quickly as possible and within the timescale mentioned. However, there may be circumstances beyond our control that prevent us from doing so eg. Public holidays or delays in mail services.