Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service 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 a part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

The Procedure

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise. If your problem cannot be sorted out immediately and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible 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 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this Within 12 months of the incident.

Please address your complaint to the Manager, and either email us using our secure online form, or post to Herne Hill Group Practice, 74 Herne Hill, London, SE24 9QP. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the Service Manager in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

What We Will Do

We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date when you raised it with us, depending on the complexity of the complaint. We will aim to be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.

When we look into your complaint we will aim to:

• Investigate the problem with all concerned
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again
• We will notify you of the outcome and where appropriate make sure you Receive an apology
• 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.

If you are unhappy with the way we have dealt with your complaint and would like to take the matter further you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman who make final decisions on unresolved complaints about the NHS in England. It is an independent service and can be contacted by visiting their website or calling 03450154033.

You may also wish to contact POhWER, a charity who can provide free independent advocacy services for patients. This can be done via their website or by callling 0300 456 2370