Complaints Policy

Practice complaints procedure

If you have a complaint or a concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the personnel working in this practice, please let us know.  We operate a practice complaint procedure as part of an NHS complaints system, which meets national criteria.

We hope that we can sort most problems out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If you wish to make a formal complaint, please do so as soon as possible - ideally within a matter of a few days. This will enable us to establish what happened more easily.

Please address your complaint in writing to the Practice Manager, who will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly and in the correct way.

To make a complaint, please email bswicb.smp@nhs.net

or send a written complaint to:

Marie Narang
Salisbury Medical Practice,
Fisherton House,
Fountain Way,
Salisbury, 
SP2 7FD

If you wish to give feedback or make a complaint about the service you have received from Salisbury District Hospital, please contact their Customer Care Department by telephone on 0800 374 208, or by email at customer.care@salisbury.nhs.uk

What happens next

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and would hope to issue our final response within 30 working days.

When investigating a complaint, we try to find out exactly what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this, and to make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you so wish.

Where your complaint involves more than one organisation (eg. social services, or the hospital) we will liaise with that organisation so that you receive one co-ordinated reply. We may need your consent to do this. If a situation occurs where your complaint has initially been sent to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.

You may be invited to meet with the person(s) concerned, in an attempt to resolve the issue at a time convenient to you. If this is the approach that you would like to take to begin with, then please do let us know and we would be happy to arrange this for you.

When investigations are complete, your complaint will be closed, and you will receive a final response letter. We aim to close complaints within 30 working days. However, some complaints may take longer to investigate due to staff absence or complexity.

The final response letter will include details of the outcomes of your complaint, and also will inform you of your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response, along with relevant contact details.

Complaining on behalf of a patient

If you wish to make a complaint on behalf of someone else, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they agree with the complaint, and are happy for the details to be discussed with you.

Third party consent forms are available both online and at the Practice sites.

In a situation where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to infirmity or mental capacity, it may be possible to deal with the complaint depending on individual circumstances. Please provide the precise details of the situation in your complaint so that we can take this into consideration.

We are unable to discuss any issues relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the aforementioned circumstances apply.

Please be aware that in some situations we may need to contact the patient directly.

Support and advice

The Advocacy Service offers a free and confidential advocacy service for patients.
The Advocacy People
PO Box 375
Hastings
East Sussex TN34 9HU

• Telephone: 0330 440 9000
• Email: info@theadvocacypeople.org.uk

You do have the right to approach the Health Service Ombudsman if you are unhappy with how your complaint was handled, or you feel that the outcome isn’t right. However, they will only investigate your complaint once we have investigated and responded fully. The contact details are:
The Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman
Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HQ

• Telephone: 0345 015 24033
• Visit the Ombudsman Website