We aim to offer all patients a friendly and efficient service and hope you will be pleased with the service that you receive.

Should a patient be unhappy about any of the services or care that we have provided, a complaints procedure has been set up to ensure that all grievances are dealt with rapidly and efficiently for the benefit of all parties concerned. Complaints should be sent in writing to the Practice Manager Mrs Ranjit Bahia at the practice address 44 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 1PL or via e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 48 hours. After a thorough investigation, a meeting will then be arranged where the matter can be discussed openly, recorded and hopefully resolved.

 

Complaints Procedure

A complaint may be defined as a grievance raised by a dissatisfied user of the services provided by the practice. Complaints may relate to the quality of the care, professional competence, administrative and support services provided and may be of a clinical or non-clinical nature.

All suggestions for improvement of this practice are welcomed and the Practice Manager is available to receive your comments and to deal with any problems which may arise.

 

Internal Complaints Procedure

There are two ways in which patients can register a complaint. In all cases first point of contact should be the Practice Manager Mrs Ranjit Bahia.

1. Informal Discussion

Patients are free to call the Practice Manager at any time to register a complaint or discuss any concerns that they have about their treatment. She will endeavour to rectify the situation to mutual satisfaction and the incident will be recorded in the practice complaints file.

Where informal complaints are directly made to other members of staff, they will similarly endeavour to resolve the situation in a mutually agreeable way. The member of staff will then report the incident to the Practice Manager, who will record it in the practice complaints file. 

2. Formal Complaint

If the patients are unhappy with the outcome of an informal discussion, or from the outset would like their complaint investigated more fully, they can use the practice complaints procedure which is aimed at dealing with complaints quickly and in a friendly and non-threatening way.

• Patients wishing to the use the practice complaints procedure should first arrange to speak with the Practice Manager.
• She will record full details of the complaint and attempt to resolve it in an appropriate manner.
• Should the complaint not be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, a formal investigation will be initiated.

At this stage patients are kindly requested to write with their complaint, and address it to the manager and include:

• A clear outline of the complaint
• The date and time of the incident
• The names of the people involved

The patient will receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours confirming receipt of the formal written complaint, and confirming the facts of the matter (unless a full response can be sent within 5 working days). Patients who have not had a response within this timeframe should call the Practice Manager directly to ensure their complaint has been received.

Complaints about clinical matters will be investigated by the Practice Manager and the Principle Partner of the practice. Administrative complaints will normally be investigated by the Practice          Manager. Every effort will be made to complete these investigations within one working week.

A full response in writing, setting out the conclusion of the investigation and action, if any, taken in respect of it, is to be made within 20 working days on receipt of the complaint, unless the investigation is still in progress, in which case a letter explaining the reasons for the delay, is to be sent to the complainant. Thereafter, the full response to the complaint is to be given to the complainant within 5 working days of a conclusion being reached in respect of the complaint.

Meeting between the parties concerned may need to take place to clarify the nature and detail of the complaint. Such meeting may extend and take place outside the time frame set out in the preceding paragraph but such meetings must take place in privacy and at a mutually convenient time and conform to an agreeable timetable. The nature and outcome of any such meeting and the discussions in those meetings should be recorded.

A register and the records of all complaints should be kept and stored and are subject to regular audit but with regard for patient confidentiality. The register of complaints should include information on whether or not the complaint was upheld, the results of the investigation, the resolution of the complaint and the action taken.

In the event that this meeting fails to resolve the matter, or if the patient declines the invitation, patients will be referred to an independent authority, for further inquiry.

 

External Conciliation

External conciliation is offered to all patients in the event that an internal investigation fails to achieve a resolution. In this event the Practice Manager will contact a member of the IDF (Independent Doctors Federation) Council.

To put complaint in writing to:

IDF CEO
The Medical Society of London
Lettsom House
11 Chandos Street
Marylebone
London
W1G 9EB  

Both parties will provide a short statement about the episode in question. It is recommended that any medical statement should be previously vetted by the appropriate medical indemnity organisation. These statements will be forwarded to a Conciliator.

The Conciliator will arrange to meet both parties at a mutually convenient time, when both parties will be able to put forward their argument. In the subsequent discussions, the experienced Conciliator will explore possible avenues to resolve the problem.

The Conciliator will issue a report to both parties and a copy will be sent to the independent authority. It will include a summary of the following:

• The material facts
• The apparent grounds of difference between the two parties
• Whether the complaint has been substantiated, upheld or rejected
• Proposals for resolving or addressing the complaint, including remedial action recommended.

If the complaint remains unresolved the complainant will be referred to the Independent Sector Complaints Advisory Service (ISCAS) which is an independent body.

A principle adjudicator, independently appointed from outside ISCAS membership, will coordinate the independent external adjudication procedure. If the complaint is upheld the adjudicator will decide what remedial action, including compensation (if appropriate) is necessary.

In addition, the Code permits (but does not require) the use of mediation as an alternative, where both parties are agreed that this is the preferred format for the resolution of matters between them. It should be emphasised that mediation is only appropriate in cases where both parties wish to use it. By electing for mediation, the option of Independent External Adjudication is removed - whether or not the mediation is concluded.