Raising a concern or making a complaint about your care

There are a few restrictions to be aware of. These are:

• Complaints should be made within 12 months of the event that has caused you to have a complaint, or within 12 months of you learning of the problem
• We cannot award financial compensation as part of the complaint process
• The complaint process does not include concerns in relation to a subject access request

Please be assured that your care will not be affected by you raising concerns or making a complaint.

Your complaint will help us understand where things have gone wrong. We know that it is only by listening and understanding your concerns that we can make things better for you and other patients.

Your complaint is recorded completely separately to your medical records so the teams involved in your care will not have access to this.

Yes. A complaint can be made by any patient or a family member, advocate, carer or nominated individual.

If you are making a formal complaint on behalf of somebody else, we will need a signed consent form giving us permission to investigate the complaint and release confidential information to you.

Please contact the complaints and experience of care team who will be able to discuss this with you and provide the consent form.

If you are a child or young person, you have the right to complaint about your care.

You might worry about making a complaint because you do not want your parents or others to learn about your concerns, or you might worry that people will not take you seriously.

We keep all complaints confidential except in very exceptional circumstances.

If you are not happy with the response to your complaint, please contact us as soon as possible so we can review this.

The complaints team will talk with you about whether additional investigations are necessary. Occasionally, we might meet face-to-face to talk about your complaint more thoroughly.  

If you still feel we have not resolved your complaint, you can ask the Public Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to review your complaint and the response you have received.

You should do this within 12 months of making your complaint and only after the NHS Trust involved has tried to resolve your concerns.

Independent complaints advocacy is a free service that can support you to make a complaint. They can:

• provide you with advice on how to make a complaint
• help you write your letter of complaint and ensure it is sent to the correct organisation
• support you to attend meetings about your complaint
• speak to the hospital/service on your behalf the complaints and experience of care team can provide you with the contact details for the advocacy service in your area.