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 you may wish to arrange a meeting with the Practice Manager to try and resolve the issue. Alternatively you can put your complaint in writing to the Practice Manager in a letter or online using the form below.
Please let us have details of your complaint within 12 months of the incident that gave rise to the complaint or within 12 months of when you became aware of the matter.
What will we do?
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will then investigate your complaint to:
- Find out what happened and what went wrong
- Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned
- Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t 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 our practice.
Support making your complaint
If you need support to make a complaint you can contact NHS Complaints Advocacy at Rethink Advocacy. They can provide you with an advocate; a person who will help you to complain. Your advocate will:
- Ensure that you understand your options
- Help you to achieve the outcome you are seeking
You can ask for an advocate to assist you at any point in your complaint. If you would like an advocate to work with you, contact Rethink Advocacy’s NHS complaints helpline:
- Telephone: 0300 7900 559 (option 2)
- Email candi@rethink.org
The website Rethink Advocacy has resources to support you to make a complaint by yourself. These are available in an Easy Read and large print formats.
What if you’re still not happy?
If you’re unhappy with the result of your complaint you can appeal to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. This cannot be your first port of call. You must first complain to either the GP practice or to North Central London Integrated Care Board. The Ombudsman can only help if:
- The GP practice or NCL ICB have finished looking at your complaint
- Or your complaint has not been sorted out after 6 months
- Telephone: 0345 015 4033
- Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
- Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint
By law you need to contact the Ombudsman within a year of the incident you are complaining about. If it was more than a year ago they may still be able to help if there were good reasons for the delay.
