Feedback and complaints

At Weston House Practice we value your opinions and we use comments, suggestions, compliments and complaints to try to improve our services. We aim to respond quickly, courteously and constructively.

If you are happy with the care and treatment which you have received, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Our doctors and staff work hard to provide the best possible quality care to our patients and greatly value your comments, support and encouragement.

Giving feedback

To provide feedback:

Complaints

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the Practice, please let us know. We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria. In order to make a complaint to the Complaints Manager please use the contact form.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks 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 12 months of the event or
  • Within 12 months of you realising that you have something to complain about

Complaints should either be voiced to a member of staff advising you would like to make a complaint, this will then be passed onto the Complaints Manager or be addressed to The Complaints and Improvements Team at Weston House Practice, St Paul’s Medical Centre, 121 Swindon Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 4DP

What shall we do

We shall do the following:

  • Acknowledge your complaint within three working days
  • Inform you of how the complaint will be handled
  • Inform you of the likely time the investigation is anticipated to take
  • Inform you of the timescale in which the response is likely to be sent

When we investigate your complaint, we shall aim to:

  • Find out what happened and what went wrong
  • Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
  • Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
  • Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again

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 permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to the NHS

We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our Practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our Practice. However this does not affect your right to approach NHS England if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact the Complaints Manager at NHS England, PO BOX 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT. By phone 0300 311 2233 or email england.southwestcomplain@nhs.net.

Other organisations

Healthwatch Gloucestershire

Healthwatch Gloucestershire is a free, independent advocacy service that can help you with a complaint about any aspect of your NHS care or treatment. Healthwatch Gloucestershire provides independent advocacy services to help resolve issues or concerns you may have about your health care or treatment. The contact details for Gloucestershire are:

Healthwatch Gloucestershire
13 Wheatstone Court
Davey Way
Waterwells Business Park
Quedgeley
Gloucester
GL2 2AQ

Freephone
0800 652 5193

Phone
01452 504989

Email
info@healthwatchgloucestershire.co.uk

Website
www.healthwatchgloucestershire.co.uk

Patient Advice Liaison Service (PALS)

Phone
0800 015 1548

Email
Glccg.pals@nhs.net

Website
www.bewellglos.org

The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of government and the NHS. You can contact their helpline on 0345 015 4033, email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.or.uk, fax: 03003 061 4000 or via post: City Gate, 51 Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HQ.

Further information about the Ombudsman is available at www.ombudsman.org.uk.