Compliments, Comments, Concerns and Complaints

If you have any compliments, comments, concerns or complaints about our service we value your input. We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible so that the details can be easily established.

Written complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager, Mrs Victoria Hamer, Langley House Surgery, 27 West Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1RW or, alternatively, you may request an appointment to discuss your concerns. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

If you have a complaint to make, please don’t be afraid to say how you feel, we welcome feedback to help us improve our standards and you will not be treated any differently because you have complained. We will simply do our best to put right anything that has gone wrong.

Our full complaints leaflet can be found below including details of where to go if you are unhappy with our complaints procedure and we cannot resolve issues locally.

If you wish you can leave feedback about us by completing our Friends and Family questionnaire. You can also visit the NHS website and leave a comment.

IHCAS is the independent service providing advocacy support to those wishing to make a complaint about their NHS care or treatment.

Practice Complaints Procedure

We always try to give you the best services possible, but if you feel you have a complaint or concern about a service provided then you can use this information to help guide you through our Practice Complaints Procedure which follows the NHS system for dealing with complaints and meets National Criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible so that the details can be easily established.

Written complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager or, alternatively, you may telephone or ask for an appointment to discuss your concerns. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

What we shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days, either verbally, or in writing. We welcome the opportunity to discuss all matters with you and to involve you in the process as to how we will handle the complaint. We will deal with the investigation as efficiently and as speedily as is reasonably practical and we will keep you informed of the progress if matters are delayed for any reason.

Once we have fully investigated, we shall then be in a position to offer you a written explanation, and a meeting with the people involved if you wish this. We aim to do this within 14 working days of your complaint. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

find out what happened and what went wrong;
make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this:
make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What happens if you are unhappy with our complaints procedure?

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use 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. If you feel that your complaint has not been resolved locally, you can contact NHS England who will discuss with you whether it is appropriate for them to investigate a complaint on your behalf. If you are not satisfied with the way the NHS has dealt with your complaint, you can refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for England, which is independent of the government and the NHS.

Complaining about attached staff or Out of Hours Service

Please contact the Practice Manager, who will provide names, addresses and telephone numbers of the most appropriate person for you to contact.

Complaining to the NHS

For further advice contact NHS England:

Telephone: 0300 311 2233 (Monday to Friday 08:00 – 18:00, excluding English Bank Holidays)

Online: NHS England - Contact Us

Post: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT

Other means of complaining

The Care Quality Commission: If you remain unhappy after local resolution and independent review then you can complain to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is completely independent of both the NHS and Government. You can contact the Ombudsman at: Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Tel No: 0345 015 4033 or visit the website
Independent Complaints Advocacy Service – (ICAS) VoiceAbility: A new service was instituted by the government to assist those who wish to or are making complaints about the NHS – the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS). In the London region, ICAS is being provided by the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. You determine how much
you want from ICAS, be it advice, assistant or support. The service is free and confidential and can be contacted via their head office at: NHS Complaints Advocacy, VoiceAbility, Mount Pleasant House, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0RN. Tel No: 0300 330 5454