How to make a complaint

We endeavour to give you the best service possible at all times, but there may be occasions when you feel you wish to express dissatisfaction. The purpose of this leaflet is to explain what to do if you have a complaint about the service The Watercress Medical Group provides for you.

We offer an in-house procedure to deal with your concerns. This procedure does not deal with matters of legal liability or compensation, but we do hope you will use it to give us the opportunity of looking into, and if necessary, correcting any problems that may have arisen or mistakes that have been made.

Using the procedure does not affect your right to complain to the NHS if you so wish, and the appropriate addresses for the NHS Commissioning Board and the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (who can help with your complaint) are printed on below.

Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients, and a patient's consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made directly by that patient.

If you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Practice Manager, either directly by telephone or by letter if you prefer. They will take full details of your complaint and decide how best to undertake the investigation.

You will be offered a meeting with a senior member of staff, normally within seven days, to discuss the matter. This slight delay is to enable us to investigate the matter fully. You may bring a friend or relative to the meeting if you wish.

Further action

We hope to address your concerns fully, provide you with an explanation and discuss any action that may be taken. We trust that, at the end of the informal meeting, you will feel satisfied the matter has been resolved. However, if this is not possible, we can suggest avenues of further action with appropriate authorities.

If you remain unsatisfied, you have the right to take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of government and the NHS. The service is confidential and free. If you have any questions about whether the Ombudsman will be able to help you, or about how to make a complaint, please find contact details below:-