Comments, compliments and complaints

Please do let us know if you have any comments, suggestions or complaints about the service you have received. We operate a practice complaints procedure that meets national criteria and ensures your views are recorded and, where appropriate, acted upon.

If you would like to make a complaint, please contact Judith Milne (Practice Manager) at the surgery address, or via the following email address: [email protected]  Once we have received your complaint we will acknowledge receipt, carry out an investigation and send a response in writing.

All other comments, views or suggestions are always welcome and help us to continue providing a high-quality service to all our patients. Please contact any member of staff with any comments you have to make.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness or accident it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances which prevent this in your covering letter.

Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply.

We may still need to correspond direct with the patient, or may be able to deal direct with the third party and this depends on the wording of the authority provided.

Service provider complaints

For complaints about independent contractor services, such as GPs, dentists, pharmacies and opticians, please contact:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 22 33 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, excluding bank holidays)
Email: [email protected]

  • From 1 July 2023 the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner is changing. Rather than contacting NHS England, complaints will be made to directly to the local integrated care board (ICB).  
  • If your complaint is about primary care services such as GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacy services, you should contact Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB.

    Telephone: 0800 032 2424

    E-mail: [email protected]

    Write to: Level 3, Christ Church Precinct, County Hall, Fishergate Hill, Preston, PR1 8XB

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

Lancashire and South Cumbria Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is a free and confidential service for anyone who has concerns about aspects of care that you, a friend or family member has received. PALS are here to help you identify what to do, where to go and who to speak to for support.

How to contact PALS

Freephone: 0800 234 6088

Telephone: 01772 676 028

Email: [email protected] 

Address: 
Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Sceptre Point
Preston
PR5 6AW.

They are available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. If you need to contact them outside of these hours you can leave a confidential message on there answer machine, or alternatively email them and a member of the team will contact you as soon as possible.

 

Health Service Ombudsman

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your complaint, we will undertake further investigation to resolve it to your satisfaction. However, if you are still not happy, you can report it to the health service ombudsman.

The parliamentary and health service ombudsman may investigate complaints on your behalf, but only if your complaint has already been investigated at a local resolution and independent review level. There is no charge for this service and the ombudsman is completely independent of the NHS.

Telephone: 0345 015 4033 (open 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday)
Email: [email protected]

www.ombudsman.org.uk

Independent advice

If you require independent advice about the complaints process, there is a service called Advocacy Access for all advocacy-related issues/enquiries, aimed at both members of the public and professionals.

Tel: 0345 456 3210
Textphone: 07886 744 634
Fax: 0300 323 0966
Email: [email protected]

Confidentiality

You don’t ever need to worry about the service you receive in future being adversely affected because you have made a complaint. We take all comments seriously and only ever use the information to review our services and make improvements, where needed.

Please can you help us help you by using any of the following apps to order your repeat prescriptions the MyGP , NHS and Patient Access.  

Thank you

Holland House Surgery