Suggestions and Complaints

We try and provide the highest level of clinical care at the Old Fire Station but occasionally, despite our best efforts, issues can arise. We would rather be aware of these issues which from our experience commonly arise from communication issues or a lack of understanding from either the Practice or the Patient.

We would encourage you to speak with us if a matter has not been dealt with as you expected. We tend to find that if something is dealt with at an early stage it is usually possible to resolve issues on an informal basis before it becomes a serious problem and it can provide a valuable learning aid for us too.

You may be able to obtain advice from Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) but you should try make your complaint as soon as possible; the time limit for a complaint is 12 months from the date the event happened or from the date you first became aware of it.

It is often helpful to include the following information in any complaints:

• Who or what are you complaining about;
• When and where the incident occurred;
• What you would like to happen as a result of your complaint; this could be an apology, an explanation, a solution or a change to services.

If you wish to make a complaint on behalf of someone you should contact the GP or practice manager, either by telephone or in writing. To make a complaint on behalf of another adult who has capacity to act for themselves you will need their written permission.

If you want to make a complaint about our primary care services to the commissioner they will need to contact the Experience Team within NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) . Complaints and PALS for the ICB are now received together through the one number.

To clarify the complaints process; The patient should usually raise concerns directly with the practice, if a patient has had a complaint responded to by the practice and they aren’t happy with the response their next recourse is the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.  But if the patient feels they can’t raise concerns direct with the practice for a concern or a complaint then they can contact the Experience Team who will support them with their concern.

You can do this via:

Telephone: 01482 957750

E-mail: hnyicb.experience@nhs.net