Complaints Policy

Hedena Health operates a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of the local resolution process of the NHS Complaints Procedure. If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the practice, or any of the personnel working in this practice, please let us know.

How to complain

We hope that we can sort most problems out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If you wish to make a formal complaint, please do so as soon as possible. This will help us to establish what happened more easily.

Complaints can be made either in person, via our website or in writing (contact us to request a paper form) to the Patient Services Manager.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

If you wish to raise a complaint on a patient’s behalf, you must have their permission to do so. An authority signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness or infirmity) of providing this. A Third-Party Consent Form is provided below.

How we will process your complaint

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days either orally or in writing. We will aim to investigate and deal with all complaints efficiently and speedily.

We will send you a written response with a report on the investigation as soon as reasonably practicable but normally within 21 working days (Please note this, may vary due to complexity, but we will seek to update you of delays).

When we look into your complaints, we aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong.
• Advise you what we will do to put the matter right.
• Make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate.
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

What to do if you remain dissatisfied

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our investigation of your complaint, you can ask for an independent review of your case by writing to:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London SW1P 4QP

Visit the Ombudsman website

Once the Ombudsman or one of their senior staff has considered the complaint and sent a response, their decision is final. Unless you raise any new issues that they consider significant to the complaint, they will not send further replies (but will still acknowledge further correspondence).

You may also approach Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) for help or advice on making a complaint by following this link on the NHS website: find your nearest PALS office or visiting and put in your postcode to find details of your nearest PALs office.

Or patients can contact The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 052 6088

Complaints to NHS England

If a complainant has concerns relating to a directly commissioned service by NHS England, then the first step is, where appropriate, for complaints and concerns to be resolved on the spot with their local service provider. This is called by NHS England ‘informal complaint resolution’ and is in line with the recommendations of the Complaints Regulations of 2009. If it is not appropriate to raise a concern informally or where informal resolution fails to achieve a satisfactory outcome, the complainant has the right to raise a formal complaint with either the service provider or the commissioner of the service NHS England.

A complaint or concern can be received by mail, electronically or by telephone via these details:

• By telephone: 03003 11 22 33 
• By email: england.contactus@nhs.net
• By post: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT