We always try to give you the best service possible, but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. This page aims to explain what to do if you have a complaint about the service you have received from the doctors or any member of staff within this practice.
Surgery complaints procedure
Our practice procedure is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use it to allow us to look into and, if necessary, put right any problems you have identified or mistakes that have been made.
At West Heath Primary Care Centre, we aim to give you a quick but thorough response, which answers your concerns properly. We aim to solve all problems at a practice level (Local Resolution).
If you use this procedure it will not affect your right to complain to the The CCG Patient Experience Team or any other Parliamentary or Health Service Ombudsman, if you feel that a local resolution has not been achieved or local resolution is not appropriate for the complaint matter. The appropriate contact telephone numbers for these services can be found below.
Who can complain?
Anyone who is receiving or has received NHS treatment can complain. In the event that the complainant is a child, the parent / guardian can complain on their behalf. Where a patient has died, a complaint can be made by a relative or person that had an interest in the deceased’s welfare.
If you feel that you are not able to make a complaint in person, you can nominate a person to complain on your behalf.
Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient’s consent will therefore be required if a complaint is not made by that patient in person.
How to complain
In order for the Practice to thoroughly investigate your query, we ask that patients submit their concerns in writing to the Surgery’s postal address or to our email address of westheath.primarycarecentre@nhs.net, for the attention of our complaints officer, listed below. Once investigated, a member of the Surgery’s management team will contact you- either by telephone or in written form. Please note, this contact may not always be the complaints officer themselves, but may be from another member of the Surgery’s management team.
Complaints Officers
Ben Szulak- Practice Manager
Michelle Foster- Assistant Practice Manager
Complete the necessary complaints paperwork:
If necessary, any complaints forms can either be posted to you or can be obtained from the Surgery Reception.
Ensure complaints are made within the specified time limits:
Please notify the surgery of any complaint as soon as possible in order for us to address any issues and improve our service for other patients. Please note, however, that the latest that a complaint should be made is:
- Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem
- Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem provided this is within 12 months of the incident.
Our obligations to you
Upon receiving a complaint we will seek to:
- Acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days of receipt
- Investigate the complaint within 10 working days of the date the complaint is received.
- Offer a meeting at the first available opportunity in order for you to discuss any matters with us. You may bring a friend or relative with you to this meeting.
- Inform you of the outcome of the complaint within 28 working days of the original date that the complaint was received.
Outcomes of the complaint
In carrying out this procedure we aim to address your concerns fully, provide you with an explanation and undertaken any necessary actions.
We hope that at the end of the process you feel that we have dealt with the matter thoroughly, however, if this is not the case and you wish to continue with your complaint, we will direct you to the appropriate authorities who will be able to help you. If you still remain dissatisfied once the practice based complaints procedure has been fully utilised you have the right to request an independent review of your complaint by contacting The Patient Experience Team. You should do this within six months of the end of ‘local resolution’
Further Contacts
The Patient Experience Team (BSOL CCG) 0121 203 3300
Healthwatch Birmingham 0800 652 5278
Parliamentary and Heath Service Ombudsman 0345 015 4033
Complaints against hospitals or other organisations
If you are unhappy with the service that you have received from a hospital or clinic the practice is unable to comment on this. You will need to contact the hospital or department that has provided your treatment or alternatively each hospital has a Patient Advice and Liaison Service department. Please find the telephone numbers below for our local PALS departments:
Birmingham Women’s Hospital: 0121 335 8226
Birmingham Children’s Hospital:0121 333 8505
Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust: 0800 917 2855
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust: 0800 953 0045
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital: 0121 685 4128
University Hospital Birmingham (Queen Elizabeth Hospital): 0121 371 4400