We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. You have a right to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the resolution at practice level.

Passed to the practice manager who will deal with the issues and alert the Clinical Lead if necessary.

Passed to the practice manager who will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 3 working days giving details of the way in which the complaint will be dealt with (ie, investigation, patient to be offered an appointment for discussion of the complaint or written response to the complaint).

Passed to the practice manager who acknowledges receipt of the complaint and passes to the Clinical Lead or other GP involved for further investigation and follow up.

Passed to the practice manager who will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days and alert the Clinical Lead. The Locum doctor will be contacted by the practice regarding any investigation.

Normally a complaint should be made within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem or within 6 months of the patient discovering the problem (as long as this is not more than 1 year after the event). However, we will extend the time limits where it would be unreasonable to expect the complaint to have been made earlier.

Where possible, complaints will be resolved by the practice at local level within 10 days of receipt if possible.

Copies of all contact, whether verbal or written, will be kept in our complaints file. An anonymised copy of all written complaints is sent to the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) of the Department of Health, 12‑22 Linenhall Street, Belfast BT2 8BS.

Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) of the Department of Health, can provide help, support and advice and can act as an ‘honest broker’ between the Complainant and Practitioner. Contact may be in writing to the address above or by telephoning Switchboard 0300 555 0115 or Complaints Hotline Number 028 9536 3893.

The Patient and Client Council can also offer support for complainants if required. It has offices in Ballymena, Craigavon, Omagh and its Headquarters is at 1st Floor Ormeau Baths, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast BT2 8HS – email [email protected] or Freephone 0800 917 0222.

Most complaints are resolved at Practice level. However, if you are not happy with the response to your complaint, you can contact the Practice again and we will try to address your concerns. If you remain unhappy, you can refer your complaint to the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO). The Ombudsman will look at your complaint and decide whether he/she should investigate it. Contact details are below:-

NIPS
33 Wellington Place
Belfast BT1 6HN
Freephone 0800 34 24 24
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.nipso.org.uk/nipso