Complaints and compliments

Patient Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the personnel working in our practice, please let us know. We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of an NHS complaints system, which meets or exceeds national criteria.

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 this as soon as possible – ideally within a few days. This will enable us to establish what happened more clearly. If doing so is not possible, your complaint should be submitted within 12 months of the incident or problem occurring.

Address your complaint in writing to:

Complaints OfficerMarisco Medical PracticeStanley AvenueMablethorpeLincolnshireLN12 1DP

Or telephone 01507 473483 or email licb.complaintsdepartment@nhs.net

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and a preliminary investigation commenced within 10 working days. You will receive a final letter setting out the result of any practice investigations.

Taking it Further

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome you may refer the matter to NHS England, who commission local health services.

Complaints to NHS England

If a complainant has concerns relating to a directly commissioned service by NHS England, they will usually be resolved on the spot with their local service provider. This is called an 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:

Tel: 03003 112233

Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Post:

NHS EnglandPO Box 16738RedditchB97 9PT

If you are still not satisfied by their response, the next step would be to contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to review how the complaint has been handled. Using these details below:

The Parliamentary and Health Service OmbudsmanMillbank TowerMillbankLondonSW1P 4QP

Tel: 0345 0154033

If you are not happy with the Ombudsman’s decision, then you can appeal directly to the PHSO. Details of this process can be found on their website; www.ombudsman.org.uk.

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 any further replies (but still acknowledge further correspondence).