Complaints

Code of practice for handling patient complaints

We want our service to meet your expectations. If you have a concern or complaint about any aspect of our service, we want to know what mistakes we made and identify how we can improve to ensure that we meet your expectations in future. Our aim is to learn from any feedback we receive and improve the service we provide to our patients.
We will deal with complaints courteously and promptly and aim to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Making a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint or simply let us know how we could have done better, please contact us:

- By telephone on 0151 380 0055

- By email at treatment@pinewoodsclinic.com

- By letter to The Pinewoods Clinic, Suite 4a, Burlington House, Crosby Road South, Liverpool, L22 0PJ.

- In person.

We will ask you for brief details of your complaint so that we can gather any useful information before contacting you. You will be given a copy of the notes made for the member of the team dealing with your case.

If your complaint is about your treatment or the fee charged, we will usually ask the member of staff concerned to contact you, unless you do not want this.

We acknowledge all complaints in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within 3 working days.

1. Policy statement

1.1 Patients attending the Pinewoods Clinic (the Clinic) independent healthcare service will have access to a complaints procedure in the event they are unhappy with any aspect of the service being provided.

1.2 Patients’ complaints and comments will be listened to and acted upon.

1.3 This policy outlines the different stages of the complaints procedure and includes arrangements to identify, receive, record, handle and respond to any complaint.

1.4 The Clinic will take all reasonable steps to ensure that its staff are aware of and comply with this policy and procedure.

2. Making a complaint

2.1 The Clinic is committed to providing a high-quality healthcare service. However, if any patient is unhappy with any aspect of the healthcare service being provided, they will be invited to make a complaint.

2.2 Complaints can be made to any member of Clinic staff, either verbally or in writing.

2.3 If a patient wishes to make a complaint whilst they are in the clinic premises, then the Medical Director (op person in change) will attempt to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

2.4 No patient, or person acting on their behalf, will be discriminated against for making a complaint.

2.5 No person’s care and treatment at the Clinic will affected in any way if a complaint is made by them or on their behalf.

3. Information given to patients about how to complain

3.1 Written information on the complaints procedure will be available for patients within the Clinic premises.

3.2 Information on how to make a complaint will be available as a separate patient information leaflet.

3.3 Patients will be assured that they will not be discriminated against for making a complaint.

4. Receiving and recording a complaint

4.1 Complaints can be made by a patient, a former patient, or someone acting on a patient’s behalf.

4.2 If the complaint is from a child i.e. someone under 18 years old, the complaint may be made by the child, either parent of the child, the legal guardian, or other adult who is legally responsible for the care of the child.

4.3 All received complaints, whether written or verbal, will be recorded.

4.4 Recorded details will include:

▪ the date and time the complaint was received

▪ a description of the complaint

▪ details of the investigation carried out

▪ any actions taken, and

▪ whether or not the complaint was upheld.

4.5 Where a complaint is received anonymously, the Clinic will carry out an investigation as far as it reasonably can, depending on the content of the complaint.

4.6 The Clinic will maintain a record of all complaints received and copies of all related correspondence. These records will be kept separately from patients’ healthcare records.

5. Handling a complaint

5.1 All complaints received at the Clinic will be treated in the strictest confidence.

5.2 All complaints, written or verbal, will be investigated.

5.3 All complainants will receive a written acknowledgement of their complaint within two working days.
The written acknowledgement will include the name and contact details of the person investigating the complaint on behalf of the Clinic.

5.4 The Clinic will offer to meet with the complainant in order to discuss the manner in which the complaint is to be handled and how the issue/s might be resolved.

At this meeting, the following information will be obtained and/or provided (as far as is reasonably possible):

• How the complainant wishes to be addressed e.g. Miss, Ms, Mr, Mrs or their first name.

• How the person wishes to be kept informed e.g. in writing by letter or email, by telephone, or through an agreed third party representative or advocate.

• Confirm with the person if they give their consent to access healthcare records (where appropriate) for the purposes of investigating the complaint.

• Confirm if the person has any disabilities that need to be taken into account during the investigation.

• Advise the person that they can have a representative to support them through the complaints process.

• Ask the person what they are seeking as an outcome to the complaints investigation e.g. an apology, new appointment, reimbursement for costs or loss of personal belongings, or an explanation.

• Agree a plan of action, including when and how the complainant will hear back from the Clinic.

5.5 In the event that the complainant does not accept the offer of a meeting as set out at 5.4 above, the Clinic will itself determine the response period and notify the complainant in writing of that period.

5.6 The Clinic will carry out an investigation of the nature of the complaint and provide a full written response to the complainant within 20 working days of the complaint being received.

5.7 If a full response cannot be given within 20 working days of receiving the complaint, the Clinic will write to the complainant to explain the reason for the delay.

5.8 A full written response will be made within five working days of a conclusion and outcome being reached.

5.9 If a complainant is not satisfied after a complaint has been investigated by the Clinic and a response provided, the Clinic will provide further information to the complainant in terms of potentially escalating the complaint to an independent body. This will be done on an individual complaint specific basis depending on the nature of the complaint. The Clinic will co-operate with any independent review of a complaint that has been escalated.

6. Receiving and handling unreasonable complaints

6.1 In situations where the person making the complaint can become aggressive or unreasonable, the Clinic will instigate appropriate actions from the list below and will advise the complainant accordingly:

• Ensure contact is being overseen by an appropriate senior member of Clinic staff who will act as the single point of contact and make it clear to the complainant that other members of staff will be unable to help them.

• Ask that they make contact in only one way, appropriate to their needs e.g. in writing.

• Place a time limit on any contact.

• Restrict the number of calls or meetings during a specified period.

• Ensure that a witness will be involved in each contact.

• Refuse to register repeated complaints about the same issue.

• Do not respond to correspondence regarding a matter that has already been closed; only acknowledge it.

• Explain that the Clinic will not respond to correspondence that is abusive.

• Make contact through a third person such as an independent advocate (where appropriate).

• When using any of these approaches to manage contact with unreasonable or aggressive people, provide an explanation of what is occurring and why.

• Maintain a detailed dated and timed record of each contact with the complainant during the ongoing relationship.

7. Escalating and appealing against the outcome of a complaint

7.1 If a complainant is not satisfied after a complaint has been investigated by the Clinic and a response provided, the Clinic will provide information to the complainant in terms of escalating the complaint to the Independent Doctors Federation, Complaints Resolution Procedure. The contact details are:

Independent Doctors Federation (IDF) CEO
The Medical Society of London
Lettsom House
11 Chandos St
Marylebone
London W1G 9EB

Internet: https://www.idf.uk.net/patients/patient-complaints.aspx

Email: info@idf.uk.net

7.2 The Clinic will co-operate with any independent review of a complaint that has been escalated to the IDF.

8. Care Quality Commission (CQC)

8.1 The Clinic will produce an annual summary of complaints received.

8.2 A complaints summary will be sent to the Care Quality Commission, on request, no later than 28 days from the date of receiving such a request.

8.3 Any complaints summary provided to the Care Quality Commission, will not contain any confidential personal information about complainants.

9. Annual review of complaints

9.1 The Clinic will review all complaints on an annual basis in terms of:

• the number of complaints received

• the issues that these complaints raised in terms of any trends or areas of risk that might need to be addressed

• whether complaints have been upheld, and

• improvements or changes to the healthcare service that were made.

10. Learning opportunities

10.1 The Clinic will review all complaints received with a view to continuous quality improvement within the independent healthcare service.

10.2 All complaints received will be used as a learning exercise to consider improving aspects of the healthcare service provided to patients.

11. Policy review.

11.1 This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis.

11.2 Any changes made to the policy as a result of review, will be communicated to all staff without delay.

12. Guidance and further reading

• Being open – communicating patient safety incidents with patients and their carers (NPSA, 2009).

• Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation gdpr/

• The EU General Data Protection Regulation.
https://gdpr-info.eu/

• NHS Complaints Guidance.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-constitution-for-england/how-do i-give-feedback-or-make-a-complaint-about-an-nhs-service

• MIND – complaining about health and social care.
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/complaining-about-health and-social-care/overview/

• NHS Constitution
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-constitution-for-england

• NHS Complaints.
https://resolution.nhs.uk/contact/complaints/

• How we deal with complaints.
https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint/how-we-deal-complaints

• Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/23/contents

• Regulation 16: Receiving and acting on complaints. https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/regulations-enforcement/regulation-16- receiving-acting-complaints