Contrast

Compliments and complaints

 

Complaining to NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

NHS England have an FAQ about complaints from members of the public, and for providers.

If you have a complaint relating to the way an NHS service has been commissioned by the CCG, how you have been directly affected by a commissioning decision made by us, or about a service commissioned by the CCG from a provider, you can contact us in the following ways:

By Post:
The Complaints Team
NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG
The Coach House
John Comyn Drive
Perdiswell
Worcester WR3 7NS

By Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Your complaint should be made as soon as possible. This should be within a year of the event or as soon as it came to your attention. You can make a complaint on your own or on behalf of someone else if you have their permission.

  pdf Download the easy read complaints guide. (1.38 MB)

  • What information will be needed to make my complaint?
    • Your name, address and contact telephone number/email. 
    • If you are complaining on behalf of another person, please include contact information for them, along with their date of birth and/or their NHS number.
    • Confirmation of the patient’s registered GP practice 
    • A summary of what has happened, giving dates where possible
    • Details of which organisation(s) provided the care or service
    • A list of things that you are complaining about
    • What you would like to happen as a result of your complaint
    • Consent – see section below

    NB. Please use the minimum amount of personal information needed to identify yourself and/or others when using email as the confidentiality and security of any information exchanged via email cannot be guaranteed. The CCG has no control, or responsibility, over personal information stored by a person’s own Email Service Provider. Any personal information that is processed by the CCG will be done so in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

  • Consent

    We will need consent in the following cases:

    If your complaint is about a hospital, mental health, community and other service, it is their responsibility to investigate the complaint.  We require your consent to send the complaint to the relevant organisation and receive a copy of the final response which may be shared with our commissioning teams in order to .  

    If your complaint is about the CCG, the way a service has been commissioned by the CCG or you have been directly affected by a commissioning decision.  For us to fully investigate your complaint, it may be necessary for us to contact other services and/or access your hospital or other medical records (as appropriate). If this is the case, before we can start to investigate and respond to you, we will require your consent in order to do this.  

    If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we will need their consent before we can investigate the complaint and disclose any information to you.  

    In cases where the patient is deceased or has a lack of capacity, we will need evidence that the complainant is an appropriate advocate – this will usually be through holding Power of Attorney for Health.

    To avoid delaying the process, it may be useful when making your complaint to include your consent. You can write this in as part of your complaint or use the sample text we provide below.

    Download patient consent form.

  • Patient Consent for Third Party Representation - Sample text if someone is complaining on your behalf

    I give my explicit consent for details of my health and healthcare to be disclosed to my nominated representative [insert name]. I agree that the CCG may disclose to my representative such information that is considered necessary in resolving my complaint. I understand that this might involve the disclosure of highly sensitive information. 

    I give consent for NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG to send my complaint to other relevant NHS providers of care on my behalf, asking them to investigate and provide the CCG with a response to the issues raised.

    I also give consent for the Investigating Officer at NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG to receive and have access to my hospital and other medical records for the purposes of investigation

    If applicable insert name, telephone / mobile number, email address

    You can also download and complete the patient consent form and include it with your letter.

    Please note: we will not be able to investigate your complaint until we have received consent.

  • How long will it take to respond to my complaint?

    Complaints will be dealt with in a manner that is proportional to the issues raised.  We will endeavour to respond to your complaint within 25 working days of receiving consent.   

    Please note, your information may be used for other purposes e.g. to monitor the effectiveness of the complaints process or to improve service quality.  Wherever possible only anonymous information will be used for these other purposes.  If identifiable data is needed for other purposes, you will be contacted so we can obtain your specific consent, unless there is another legal basis for sharing the information.

  • Where to go if you are not satisfied

    If you are not satisfied with our response you must write to us stating the reasons why you are dissatisfied.  We will arrange to review the response and provide a further response to your complaint, unless agreed otherwise; on occasion this may require a meeting with the complainant to talk through the complaint in person.

    You have the right to take your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, if you are not satisfied with the way your complaint has been dealt with by the NHS. The Ombudsman will generally only consider your complaint once you have completed the CCG’s complaints procedure and received your final response. If the Ombudsman is of the opinion that the CCG can do more to resolve your complaint, they will refer your complaint back to us.  It is therefore very important to allow the CCG every opportunity to try to resolve your complaint.

    You can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman at:    
    The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman 
    Millbank Tower
    London
    SW1P 4QP
    Telephone: 0345 015 4033
    Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk 

    Please note, once a complaint has been logged directly with NHS England or a service provider, a complainant cannot then approach the CCG if they are dissatisfied with the NHSE/provider’s response, unless the complaint relates to an action taken by the CCG, e.g. CHC decision, or about an ex-provider.  In this situation (i.e. if the patient is dissatisfied with the provider’s response), the patient MUST approach the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. 

This organisation ceased to exist on 30 June 2022, please visit our new website for NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board - Integrated Care Board :: Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System (icb.nhs.uk)