Raising a complaint
Should you need to raise a complaint, you can complete our 4C’s form.
If you would prefer to write to us you can email ddicb.rpccomplaintsteam@nhs.net or send a letter to:
The Complaints Team
Royal Primary Care
The Grange
Stubbing Road
Grangewood
Chesterfield
S40 2HP
Depending on the nature of your complaint, we may be able to resolve your issue with a phone call from one of our Team Leaders or Practice Managers which you will receive within 2 working days of us receiving your complaint.
If your complaint is complex and needs to be processed as a formal complaint, we will write to you and acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We aim to investigate and address formal complaints fully within 35 working days. If an extension is required to investigate your complaint we will contact you to make you aware of this.
If we you have raised a complaint with the surgery and you remain unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to request an independent review from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsmen (PHSO). To contact them, you can download a form from their ombudsman website at www.ombudsman.org.uk or telephone Customer Helpline Tel: 0345 015 4033.
What to expect from the complaints process
On receipt of your complaint, we undertake initial checks to ensure:
- That we have the records and information to enable us to conduct a full investigation.
- That we have consent to share records if the complaint relates to any external health or social care organisation.
- That we have consent to disclose information if you are making a complaint on behalf of another adult, this could be a relative or friend.
- That the complaint is being made within 12 months of the event.
We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 3 days, but we may speak to you before this to clarify any points.
We will advise of the timescale in which we aim to provide our reply or meet with you, if we are delayed in our response we will advise you and set a new agreed timeframe.
Our investigation will provide an explanation of what happened, an offer of apology or a statement of regret where appropriate and how we will learn from your complaint and take steps to put matters right.
A complaint cannot provide information of a disciplinary nature.
We will always take your complaint seriously.
Your complaint is not kept in your medical records and will not affect your future care in any way.
We value your opinion and are committed to learning from all complaints we receive. To improve the care and services we provide we share anonymised learning at our clinical meeting and other relevant forums.