Enquiries & Emergencies Telephone:
01283 511387

Appointments Telephone:
01283 563561

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS wide system for dealing with complaints. Our system meets the national criteria.

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 on the day. This is because the sooner we know about a problem, the easier it will be for us to establish what happened. In any event, please let us have details of your complaint:

Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or

Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, providing this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager, Mr. Quentin Hill. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mr. Hill to discuss your concerns. He will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint, we shall:

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.

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 his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed to authorize you to complain on their behalf.

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. If for any reason you feel that the practice complaints procedure has not resolved your problem, then another step to take is to contact the local PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service), which is based here in Burton on Trent. The telephone number for this local service is 01283 507117. However, this does not affect your right to approach the SWSPCT (which was the old Health Authority), if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact the SWPCT complaints manager:

Julie Phillips,
SWSPCT,
Mellor House,
Corporation Street,
Stafford.
ST16 3SR
Telephone 01785 220004

You may also like to contact the community health council for help, their address and telephone number are as follows:

Chief Officer,
South East Staffs CHC,
3 Greenhill, Lichfield,
Staffs.
WS13 6DY
Telephone 01543 251030