Complaints Policy

Suggestions and Complaints

If you have a complaint or concern about the service that 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 according to national criteria.

How to make a complaint

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint please 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 12 months of the date of the event that you’re complaining about, or as soon as the matter first came to your attention.
• The time limit can sometimes be extended (so long as it’s still possible to investigate the complaint). An extension might be possible in situations where it would have been difficult for you to complain earlier, for example, when you were grieving or undergoing trauma.

You may put your complaint in writing addressed to The Practice Manager, Observatory Medical Practice.  Alternatively you may ask for an appointment with the Practice Manager to discuss your concerns.  The complaints procedure will be explained to you and your complaints will be 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 as soon as possible, usually within three working days; and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date 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 to do this;
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t 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 note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to NHS England

We hope that if you have a problem you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However, if you feel too uncomfortable to complain to us directly then you can make a complaint to NHS England.

Make a complaint to NHS England

Health Service Ombudsman

You also have the right to approach the Health Service Ombudsman if you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint:

Make a complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman

Healthwatch Oxfordshire

Healthwatch Oxfordshire is an independent organisation that listens to your views and experiences of health and social care in Oxfordshire. The aim is to help you get the best out of these services, whether it’s improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow. It is not the route for complaints but they will point you in the right direction.

Find support on the Healthwatch Oxfordshire Website