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Make a complaint

We try to provide the best possible service to our patients and will always welcome your views or suggestions for further improvements.

We realise that there may be occasions when our service to you falls short of our customary standard. If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working, please let us know.

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 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 six months of the incident that caused the problem, or within six months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to Mrs Julie Lawton, Practice Manager, or any of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mrs Lawton in order to discuss your concerns. She 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 the practice will do

We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 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.

Complaining to the Primary Care Trust

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. But this does not affect your right to approach the local Primary Care Trust if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact the Primary Care Trust Complaints Manager Cathryn Haig at North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust, St George's Chambers, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire ST5 2AE.

PALS

The Patient Advice and Liason Service (PALS) remains a key asset for both patients and the PCT, supporting immediate and responsive resolution to potential complaints. If conconfidential, independent advice or information about any area of the NHS is required members of the PALS team are happy to assist.

Telephone 0800 389 8832 (Newcastle)

For people whose concerns cannot be reolved by PALS, a formal complaints procedure is in palce, copies of which are available from the PCT Complaints Manager.