Compliments, Feedback and Complaints - Hereford Medical Group

Your experience of the service we provide is important to us. If you have feedback about the service that you have received from the practice, please let us know. We operate a complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints and further information can be found below.

We are also keen to hear of any positive feedback that you have about the care that you have received and you can use the same feedback form below to do this or write to the Practice Manager hwicb.hmg.feedback@nhs.net

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Complaints Procedure

Lead GPs: Dr Cath Laird
Quality Manager, Clinical Complaints Handler: Bryony Reed
Patient Advice and Liaison Service Officer: Elizabeth Morris

Making a Complaint

Most issues can be sorted out quickly and easily with the person concerned, often at the time they arise.

If you are not able to resolve your concern in this way you may wish to make a formal complaint. It is best to make a complaint as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, giving as much detail as you can. This helps us to investigate what happened more easily.

For all complaints, this should be:

Within 12 months of the incident,
or within 12 months of you becoming aware of the matter

If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You can also make a complaint on some else’s behalf but you will usually need their consent to do so, unless they are unable to do so. This is because we take medical confidentiality seriously.

You can make a complaint by using this feedback form

You can also make a complaint in writing to:

Bryony Reed

Quality Manager

Station Medical Centre

Station Approach

Hereford

HR1 1BB

Complaining to NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board

We hope that you will use our practice complaints procedure if you are unhappy. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve your GP surgery.

However, if you feel that you cannot raise a complaint with us directly, please contact the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board. The contact details are below:

By telephone: 0330 053 4356 ext. 8111
By email: hwicb.complaints-GP@nhs.net
By post: Patient and Stakeholder Liaison Team, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Kirkham House, John Comyn Drive, Perdiswell, Worcester, WR3 7NS

What We Do Next

We aim to resolve complaints as soon as possible.

We will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days, and aim to resolve the matter as soon as possible. We will give you some idea of how long that may take. You will receive a response either by phone call or in writing. If the matter is likely to take longer we will let you know and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.

When we investigate your complaint, we will aim to:

Find out what happened and what went wrong.
Make it possible for you to discuss what happened 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 does not happen again.

Where your complaint involves more than one organisation (e.g. social services) we will liaise with that organisation so that you receive one reply, or advise that you contact them directly. Where your complaint has been initially sent to an incorrect organisation, we will seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.

The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint and also your right to refer the matter further to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (details shown elsewhere on this website) if you remain dissatisfied with the response.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality.

If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the consent of the patient. This is to confirm that they wish to make a complaint and they are happy for you to act on their behalf. If the patient is deceased we may agree to respond to a family member or anyone acting on their behalf, if it is appropriate.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness, accident or mental capacity, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the details of the circumstances that prevent the patient giving consent in your complaint.

Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission unless the circumstances above apply. You may also find that if you are complaining on behalf of a child who is capable of making their own complaint, we may ask the child for their consent or input.