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image depicting complaints

We welcome feedback about the Practice

If you wish to compliment or complain about any aspect of the practice, you may use our compliments and complaints form

Any problem will be investigated in confidence and with sensitivity.

We constantly look to improve services and patient care, and will welcome any constructive comments, which will help us to do so.

Complaints Procedure

We welcome compliments, suggestions, or concerns about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice.

We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. 

As a patient of the NHS you have a right to:

  • Have your complaint dealt with efficiently
  • Have your complaint properly investigated
  • Be informed of the outcome of your complaint
  • Take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the outcome

Making a complaint

Every patient has the right to make a complaint about the treatment or care they have received at The Croft Practice. We understand that we may not always get everything right and, by telling us about the problem you have encountered, we will be able to improve our services and patient experience.

In the first instance please discuss your complaint with a member of the team. Where the issue cannot be resolved at this stage, please contact the Head of Patient Experience who will try to resolve the issue and offer you further advice.

Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event (and ideally within a few days) as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:

  • Within 12 months of the incident, OR
  • Within 12 months from when cause for complaint comes to your notice, giving as much detail as you can.

To give your feedback

What we do next

Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible.

We will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days, and aim to have looked into the matter within 28 working days. You may then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet or speak with the person(s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take longer than this we will let you know, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.

When the practice looks into your complaint it aims to:

  • Ascertain the full circumstances of the complaint - find out what happened and what went wrong
  • Make arrangements for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
  • Identify what the practice can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

When the investigations are complete your complaint will be determined and a final response sent to you.

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 to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can liaise with someone else about it.

A third party consent form is available from reception.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness or accident it will still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances which prevent this in your covering letter.

We may still need to correspond direct with the patient, or may be able to liaise direct with the third party, and this depends on the wording of the authority provided

Complaining to NHS England

If for any reason you do not want to speak to a member of our staff, then you can request that NHS England investigates your complaint. They will contact us on your behalf

How to contact NHS England

Advocacy Support

Care Quality Commission

If you have a genuine concern about a staff member or regulated activity carried on by this practice then you can contact the Care Quality Commission

How to contact the Care Qualilty Commission

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint

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 the opportunity to improve our service. If you feel that you are not satisfied with the response received, you have the right to take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman is independent of government and the NHS and their service is confidential and free.

How to contact the Ombudsman