St. Bartholomew's Medical Centre Complaints Procedure
We try to provide an efficient and reliable service at all times.
Regrettably, from time to time, things may go wrong. We welcome
your comments so that we can improve our service. If you have
a complaint or concern about the service you have received from
the doctors or staff, please let us know. We operate a practice
complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with
complaints. Our complaints system meets National Criteria.
Dr Peter Burke is the person with overall responsibility for
complaints within the practice and our Practice Manager Mrs Sian
Edwards, is the complaints manager who is responsible for managing
and monitoring our complaints process.
HOW TO COMPLAIN
You can complain orally, in writing or electronically. Ordinarily,
complaints should be made within 12 months of an incident happening
however, the limit will not apply if it can be shown that there
were good reasons for not making the complaint sooner, or it is
still possible to investigate matters effectively and fairly.
If you chose to make your complaint to the practice, please ask
to speak with, or write to our Practice Manager Mrs Sian Edwards,
who will help you through the process and relevant procedures.
If you feel unable to raise your complaint with us, you may wish
to make your complaint directly to the Primary Care Trust (PCT),
in which case you should address your written complaint to:
The Complaints Manager, The Complaints Department, Oxfordshire
Primary Care Trust, Jubilee House, 5510 John Smith Drive, Oxford
Business Park South, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2LH - or Phone them on
01865 336786.
ORAL COMPLAINTS
We would hope to resolve most complaints informally within the
Practice. If you make an oral complaint and the matter is resolved
to your satisfaction no later than the next working day, then
it is not subject to the regulations and the matter will be treated
as closed.
If you make an oral complaint which can not be resolved by the
next working day, it will be subject to the complaints regulations
and will be recorded in the Practice Complaints Register. We will
then write to you in acknowledgement, with an outline of your
complaint.
WRITTEN COMPLAINTS
You may prefer to put your complaint in writing. If so, please
address your written complaint to Mrs Sian Edwards who is the
person responsible for managing our complaints procedure here
at the practice.
We aim to acknowledge your complaint in three working days. If
you have chosen to write directly to the PCT (Primary Care Trust),
the practice will accept any request from the PCT to handle your
complaint and will write to you acknowledging your complaint 3
working days following receipt of the request from the PCT.
INVESTIGATING YOUR COMPLAINT
The practice will undertake a full investigation into your complaint.
If your complaint concerns a member of staff or administrative
error, Mrs Edwards will investigate and liaise with you. If your
complaint concerns a doctor, Dr Burke will investigate and reply
to you. If your complaint concerns either Mrs Edwards or Dr Burke,
another senior person will be assigned to follow it through.
THE WRITTEN RESPONSE
Under the Regulations, (see below) we are required to provide
a written response as soon as reasonably practicable after completing
the investigation. We will endeavour to provide you with a written
response as soon as possible, however, in order to ensure that
a full investigation can be undertaken, the Practice aims to provide
you with a written response within 28 days from the date we acknowledged
your complaint. If the investigation has been delayed, we will
keep you informed of the reasons and will update you on progress.
The written response will include an explanation of how the complaint
was considered, any conclusions reached, an indication of any
specific remedial action needed, plans to implement actions and
actions already taken.
If, following receipt of the written explanation you do not feel
that the matter has been dealt with to your satisfaction, please
do contact the practice to discuss the matter further.
COMPLAINING ON BEHALF OF SOMEONE ELSE
If you are complaining on behalf of another patient, we have to
know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by
the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable
(because of illness) of providing this. Please note that we keep
strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE OUT-OF-HOURS SERVICE
If you need to make a complaint about Oxfordshire Primary Care
Trust Out of Hours service, please address it to Deborah Dunn,
the Complaints Manager, The complaints Department, Oxfordshire
Primary Care Trust, Jubilee House, 5510 John Smith Drive, Oxfordshire
Business Park South, Cowley, Oxford OX4 2LH – or Phone them
on 01865 336786. The Out of Hours service the Oxford Emergency
Medical Service that provides a GP service between 6.00 pm and
8.00 am each weekday, at weekends and at bank holidays.
IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE PRACTICE
PROCEDURE
We hope you will use our practice complaints procedure in the
first instance. We believe this gives the best chance of putting
right whatever has gone wrong, and gives us the best opportunity
of improving the practice.
Our Procedure complies with the local Authority Social Services
and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009
(SI 2009/309) which came into force on 1st April 2009.
If you are dissatisfied with the way the practice has conducted
the complaint and/or has undertaken the investigation –
or if you contacted the Primary Care Trust to make the complaint
directly and you are dissatisfied with the outcome - you have
the right to refer the matter to the Parliamentary and Health
Service Ombudsman. Their address is: Millbank Tower, Millbank,
London, SW1P 4QP. You can phone them on 0845 0154033, or contact
them via their website: www.ombudsman.org.uk.
OTHER NHS RESOURCES
If you wish to find out more about health service regulations,
you can contact the Care Quality Commission the NHS regulatory
body responsible for setting the minimum standards of compliance.
You can contact them on 03000 616161, by Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
or by post at St Nicholas Building, St Nicholas Street, Newcastle
upon Tyne, NE1 1NB
You may wish to contact The Patients Advice and Liaison Service
(PALS) which is based at The Primary Care Trust (telephone 0800
0526088, or email them to: pals@oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk
A leaflet about the National Health Service Executive Ombudsman
can be obtained by telephoning the Health Literature Line on 0800
555777. Leaflets are available in a variety of languages.
