Complaints and Feedback
At Glastonbury Health Centre, we welcome compliments, comments, concerns and complaints. Your feedback helps us to improve the services we provide and ensures we continue to deliver high-quality care to all our patients.
Compliments
Our staff always appreciate it when patients, relatives or carers take the time to recognise the care they have received. We record and share compliments with our team as part of our commitment to continuous improvement.
Comments and Concerns
If you have a comment, suggestion or concern about any aspect of our service, we encourage you to raise it with a member of staff or the Practice Manager as soon as possible. Many issues can be resolved quickly by discussing them with the people directly involved.
If we have not met the standards you expect, or you feel your concerns have not been resolved, you have the right to make a formal complaint.
Making a Complaint
Our aim is to investigate complaints fairly, respond openly and honestly, and learn from any mistakes so we can improve our services.
It is helpful if you make your complaint as soon as possible after the event. This allows us to investigate the matter thoroughly while the details are still recent. Under the NHS Complaints Regulations, complaints should normally be made:
- Within 12 months of the event, or
- Within 12 months of becoming aware that you have something to complain about.
Complaints are handled separately from your medical records and will not affect your current or future care or treatment.
If you are making a complaint on behalf of another person, we will usually require their written consent before we can discuss their personal information with you.
How to Make a Complaint
If you wish to make a complaint about the surgery or the services we provide, you can do so in whichever way is most convenient for you. You can:
- Telephone the Practice
- Write to us
- Email us
- Submit your complaint via askmyGP
- Complete a complaints form, available from Reception
Glastonbury Health Centre
1 Wells Road
Glastonbury
Somerset
BA6 9DD
Telephone: 01458 834100
Email: [email protected]
What Happens When You Make a Complaint?
Once we receive your complaint, we will:
- Acknowledge receipt of your complaint, usually within three working days.
- Discuss with you how you would like your complaint to be handled and whether you would prefer a meeting or a written response.
- Carry out a full and impartial investigation.
- Keep you informed if our investigation is likely to take longer than expected.
- Provide a full written response explaining our findings, answering the issues you have raised and outlining any actions we have taken as a result.
Our aim is to resolve complaints as promptly as possible while ensuring that every concern is investigated thoroughly.
Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy
If you would like help making a complaint, you can contact the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service. This is a free, independent and confidential service that can provide advice and support throughout the complaints process.
In Somerset, the Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy Service is provided by POhWER.
Telephone: 0300 456 2370
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pohwer.net
An advocate can help you understand the complaints process, write your complaint, prepare for meetings and ensure your views are heard.
Complaining to NHS Somerset
If you would prefer not to complain directly to the Practice, you can make your complaint to NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB), which is responsible for commissioning GP services in Somerset.
NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board – PALS and Complaints Team
Telephone: 08000 851067
Email: [email protected]
Write to:
PALS and Complaints Team
NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board
Freepost RRKL-XKSC-ACSG
Yeovil
Somerset
BA22 8HR
The NHS Somerset PALS and Complaints Team provides a confidential service to help patients with concerns, suggestions and complaints. If your complaint relates to more than one NHS organisation, or you would prefer not to contact the Practice directly, the team can advise you on the most appropriate way to proceed and investigate complaints where appropriate. They aim to acknowledge enquiries within three working days.
If You Remain Dissatisfied
If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint after it has been fully investigated through the NHS complaints process, you have the right to ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to review your complaint.
The Ombudsman is independent of the NHS and Government and provides a free, impartial service. They will normally only investigate a complaint once the NHS organisation involved has had the opportunity to respond.
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Telephone: 0345 015 4033
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk
Further information about making a complaint is available from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
