Complaints & Suggestions

commentsComplaints most frequently arise from misunderstanding or lack of communication.  We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints, which meets national criteria.  Our Practice Complaints Leaflet gives details of the procedure and is available at reception.  Our aim is to give the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal swiftly with any problems that occur. 

If you have any comments or suggestions about the running of the Practice, please feel free to discuss them with Mairi McGrandles, our Practice Manager.

Making a Complaint 

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, preferably at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible - ideally within a matter of days, or at most a few weeks - because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.  If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

  • Within six months of the incident that caused the problem, or
  • Within six months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to Mairi McGrandles, Practice Manager and your concerns will be dealt with promptly.  It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.  Copies of the Practice Complaints Procedure are available at reception.

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 20 working days of the date it was raised with us.  We shall then be in a position to give an explanation, or offer a meeting with those involved.

In investigating your complaint we shall aim to:

  • Find out what happened and what went wrong.
  • Enable you to discuss the problem with those concerned.
  • Ensure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate.
  • Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of 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 by the person will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to NHS Forth Valley

We hope that if you have a problem, you will make use of 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.  This does not, however, affect your right to approach NHS Forth Valley if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.  For further advice you should contact the NHS Forth Valley Complaints Service on Tel: 01324 566660 or

Email fv-uhb.complaints@nhs.net .

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

The procedure for making a complaint against the NHS in Scotland is described in the leaflet Making a Complaint about the NHS.

The ombudsman has published a booklet that describes the process behind bringing your complaint to the ombudsman 

If you remain unhappy after everything has been done to try to resolve your concern or complaint you have the right to approach the Ombudsman and there are instructions for doing this on the SPSO website.

 

 
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