Suggestions and Complaints

Feedback

We are always happy to receive feedback from our patients.  There are many ways this can be provided:

• Feedback slips are available in all our receptions
• Tell the reception team
• Write in to or ring Chris Greenwood our Patient & Staff Engagement Manager.  Chris is not always immediately available but will get back to you as soon as he can and usually no later than 48 hours after your initial contact.

We will try to sort out your problem quickly and by discussion with yourself if you are happy to do it that way.  Where appropriate we will also share any outcomes from our discussions throughout the practice to support service improvement or change

Complaints

If you have a complaint or any concerns about the service you have received from the Doctors or any staff working for Bay Medical Group, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.

How to Complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person involved or ask to speak to the Site Manager at the site where the issue occurred. This type of issue would be classed as a “concern” rather than a formal complaint. When you raise a concern we will discuss this fully with you and agree where appropriate to share any outcomes with individuals or with the Practice as a whole to support service improvement or change.

If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a formal complaint please 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 and accurately. If, for some reason it is not possible to do that, please let us have the details of your complaint:

a) Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem, or
b) Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem

We will normally only consider complaints outside of these timescales if you can demonstrate good reason for the delay and it is still possible for the complaint to be investigated fairly and effectively.

All complaints should be addressed in writing to Mr Chris Greenwood, the Patient Engagement Manager. Alternatively you may ask for an appointment with Chris to discuss your concerns. It will be helpful if you are as specific as possible about your complaints. Your complaint will always be assessed by a member of the management team. If your complaint relates to medication or to the nursing team, we will liaise with the Clinical Services Manager, Amanda Davey, or the Assistant Clinical Services Manager, Candice Gilhespy. If it relates to an admin or IT problem we will forward this to the Admin Manager, Jenny Yost, or IT Manager, Toni Clifford and if it relates to the reception team or a specific site we will forward this to the relevant Site Manager. Depending on which department the complaint relates to the relevant manager will then be in contact with you regarding your complaint. If the complaint involves a GP these will be the responsibility of Chris Greenwood who will contact you.

What We Shall Do

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days of receiving it.

We will usually try to speak to you by telephone after receiving your complaint in order to discuss the way in which your complaint will be handled. If we consider the complaint relates to something outside of our direct control we will discuss how best to progress this with you and whether it would be more appropriate to refer the complaint elsewhere for response. Within fifteen working days of receiving your complaint we aim to have looked into it and will write to you with a response. If exceptionally your complaint cannot be dealt with within this time frame we will advise you why and keep you updated of progress. When we look into your complaint we shall aim to find out what happened and what went wrong, make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate and identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

If you feel that we have not resolved your complaint after receiving our letter, you will have 28 days in which to let us know that you are not satisfied. In these circumstances we will offer you or your representative an appointment for a meeting with Chris Greenwood and either Dr Moore, Dr Wooldridge or Dr Akhtar, the Partners responsible for Complaints, to discuss the matter further.

Following discussion, the matter will hopefully be resolved and the practice will write to you to confirm the outcome.

If you remain dissatisfied following completion of the local resolution procedure you can complain to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. To do this you can write to:

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
LONDON
SW19 4QP

You can also contact the Ombudsman by ringing 0345 015 4033.  For Further information please visit their website

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 his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of physical or mental illness) of providing this.

Complaining To Other Bodies

From 1 April 2013 the structure of the NHS changed. The Primary Care Trusts were replaced by NHS England Local Area Teams. If you have a problem, we would hope that 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 NHS England, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us. You should contact:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT

Tel 03003112233
Email: England.contactus@nhs.net

If you are making a complaint please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line. For more information go to the NHS website

You may also wish to contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) who offer support and advice to individuals who require information, or have concerns or a complaint about any aspect of Hospital treatment. They can be contacted by email at: CommentsandComplaints@mbht.nhs.uk or in writing at:

Chief Executive
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay
Trust Headquarters
Westmoreland General Hospital
Burton Road
Kendal
LA9 7RG

You can contact PALS by telephone on 01539 716621

Patients Association

The Patients Association is a health care charity which highlights patient concerns and also provides advice on how to get the best out of their healthcare. Contact them by telephone on either 0800 345 7115 or 020 8423 8999 or visit their website

Alternatively you can contact your local Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS). ICAS also provides independent advocacy (help and advice) for people who
have a complaint about the NHS. For Lancaster and Morecambe you should contact Ncompass Advocacy on 033 000 222 00. Further information is also available on their website or email admin@ncompassnorthwest.co.uk

Their main office is at:

Edward VII Quay, Navigation Way,
Ashton on Ribble,
Preston, Lancashire,
PR2 2YF

Tel: 01772 280030

Care Quality Commission

CQC are responsible for the independently checking that GP Practices meet important standards of quality and safety. Although CQC cannot deal with complaints concerns raised with them can be used to inform areas to be checked on future visits. Contact CQC at:

CQC National Customer Service Centre
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle
ME1 4PA

By telephone on 03000 616161 or visit the CQC website

If patients have made a complaint relating to care provided under the Mental Health Act and are not happy with the response received or just require help and advice they should contact CQC (and not the Ombudsman) as above.

Complaints regarding commissioning decisions / issues e.g. individual patient funding requests and continuing health complaints 

Complaints should be directed to:

Customer Care Team
Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit
Lancashire Business Park
Jubilee House
Centurion Way
Leyland 
PR26 6TR

Tel: 0800 032 2424
Email: customer.care@lancashirecsu.nhs.uk

Comments & Suggestions

We are always pleased to hear any suggestions you may have for improving the service we provide. Address these to:

Chris Greenwood
Patient Engagement Manager
West End Surgery
Bay Medical Group
1 Heysham Road
Morecambe
LA3 1DA

and we will give them due consideration. The practice undertakes to avoid discrimination against any patient who registers a grievance

_{Revised February 2017 C Greenwood review February 2020
Reviewed September 2019 C Greenwood
next review date September 2022}