Other Information
Complaints
Practice 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 the NHS system for dealing with complaints.
Our complaints system meets national criteria.
How to make a complaint
We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be resolved 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 Patricia Hold, practice manager, or any of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mrs Hold 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 we shall do
We shall acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten 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 does not 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 his or her permission to do so. A letter of authority signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.
This and additional information is available upon request in leaflet format if required.
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:
BSC Complaints Manager
Churchill House
Churchill Way
CARDIFF CF10 2TWTel: 029 2037 6821
In addition to this the Local Health Board can offer a conciliation service should it be necessary.
You may also like to contact the Community Health Council for help - their address and telephone number are as follows:
Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council
2 Stanwell Road
Penarth
CF64 2AATel: 029 2035 0611
In addition the Community Health Council can offer an advocacy service.
