Suggestions, Problems and Complaints

We care about what you think and are happy to receive your views on the service that we provide.

Your comments will be totally confidential and there is no need to give your name and address unless you would like a response.

The practice operates an in-house complaints procedure and welcomes the opportunity to deal with any concerns or complaints you may have about the service we provide. In the first instance, please contact the Patient Services Manager by letter, telephone or in person so your complaint can be investigated and dealt with quickly. Please see the complaints section later on in this booklet. It is our policy to give you a full explanation and advise you of the outcome. If we are unable to resolve the problems you may wish to contact:

The Vale of Glamorgan Local Health Board
2 Stanwell Road
Penarth
Vale of Glamorgan
CF64 2AA

Telephone: (029) 2035 0600

Patient Complaints

Introduction

The West Quay Medical Centre staff are committed to providing he highest possible standards of care to our patients. We are also committed to treating relatives and visitors to our premises with courtesy, dignity and respect.

When we fail to meet our own standards and those of our patients, relatives and visitors, we will undertake to identify how we have failed and address these matters to ensure that we do not make the same mistake again.

How You Can Help

Our Complaints Procedure is aimed at improving services and not apportioning blame. If you feel that you have not received the appropriate level of service either from a doctor or nurse or from one of our administrative staff, then please tell us. You can make a formal or informal complaint and it can be made either verbally to our Complaints Officer who is our Patient Services Manager or in writing to her. Her name is Carol Bates and she can be contacted during the working day at the surgery in Barry. If she is not available, she will normally get back to you within 2 working days of making your complaint.

Informal Complaints

These are complaints that can be responded to and dealt with immediately. Evidence from the NHS indicates that most informal complaints are made when people feel that staff have been either unhelpful or inconsiderate or where communication between the patient and clinician has broken down.

If you wish to record an informal complaint, please ask at reception for an Informal Complaints Form.

Formal Complaints

You can make a formal complaint at any time, even if you have already made an informal complaint and you are not satisfied with the response you have received.

You do not have to make a formal complaint in writing but it would be helpful if you would do so in serious or complex matters as it will enable us to fully investigate the complaint and respond appropriately to the issues raised by you.

When we investigate a formal complaint, we will appoint an independent officer from the Practice to carry out an investigation. This may be a clinician or non-clinician but the whole process will be overseen by the Business Manager who will act as an independent adviser to the process.

What We Will Do

We will treat all complaints seriously and in a confidential, caring and sensitive manner.

We will acknowledge all informal complaints made in writing within two days and will answer all informal complaints in writing outlining the course of action we have taken within fourteen days.

In the case of formal complaints, we will acknowledge your written complaint within two days and answer it within twenty working days.

We will investigate and respond to you as openly and honestly as we can. We will let you know what action we have taken to remedy issues and address any concerns you have.

We will deal with complaints robustly but in doing so we will ensure that we will treat all our staff fairly. If, after investigation, a complaint against a member of staff is unjustified, we will let you know. If we feel that the complaint has been made maliciously, we may decide to record the matter on your records.

We will write to you in everyday language so that you can understand what we have done.

We will meet with you if you so require, to resolve any concerns or outstanding issues you may have.

We will inform you of your rights of appeal if you are unhappy with our investigations.

Targets

We aim to resolve 90% of all informal complaints at source.
We will resolve all complaints within 28 days of receipt.
If you wish to make a complaint about any aspect of the service, you should first contact our Patient Services Manager, Mrs Debbie Milton at the West Quay Medical Centre. If you would prefer to send an email, you can do so at:
debbie.milton@gp-w97001.wales.nhs.uk

The Complaints Policy for the Practice can be obtained free of charge from the above address.