Murieston Medical Practice LLP is committed to providing high quality care and treatment to our patients through the delivery of safe, effective and person-centred care. We recognise that on occasion, GP services fail to meet patient expectations. In the rare occasions this happens, complaints should ideally be made in writing and either handed into the Practice or submitted via the Website feedback option. Alternatively, administrative staff can provide forms for this purpose. Complaints can be made via telephone 01506-461464; however, there is no guarantee someone will be available to take your call; therefore, you may be asked for brief details and someone will call you back. Complaints are handled by the Practice Manager in the first instance.
Anyone can make a complaint. You can complain directly, or if you would rather have someone make the complaint on your behalf, we can deal with your representative. This could be a relative, a carer, a friend or any other person that you choose. We can give you information about advocacy services and the Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS), which can help you to make your complaint. If you agree to someone making the complaint on your behalf, it’s important for you to know that we will need to ask for your written permission for us to deal with that person.
PASS can be contacted via their website: www.patientadvicescotland.org.uk or by telephoning 0800 917 2127.
You can complain about things like:
• Your care and/or treatment;
• Delays;
• A failure to provide a service;
• An inadequate standard of service;
• A lack of information and clarity about appointments;
• Difficulty in making contact with us for appointments or queries;
• Treatment by or attitude of a member of our staff;
• Scheduled or unscheduled ambulance care;
• Transport concerns, either to, from or within the healthcare environment;
• Environmental or domestic issues;
• Operational and procedural issues;
• Our failure to follow the appropriate process; and
• Your dissatisfaction with our policy
There are some things we cannot deal with through our complaints handling procedure.
These include:
• A routine first-time request for a service, for example a request for an appointment or a request for a specific course of treatment;
• A request for a second opinion in respect of care or treatment;
• Matters relating to private healthcare or treatment;
• Matters relating to services not provided by or funded by the NHS;
• A previously concluded complaint or a request to have a complaint reconsidered where we have already given our final decision;
• A complaint made by an employee of the NHS Board or health service provider or other person in relation to their employment contract;
• A complaint that is being or has been investigated by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO);
• A complaint arising from a suggested failure to comply with a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act; and
• A complaint about which you have commenced legal proceedings, or have clearly stated that you intend to do so, rather than pursue the matter using the NHS complaints procedure.
We also realise that it is not possible to list everything that you cannot complain about. If other procedures can help you resolve your concerns, we will give information and advice to help you.
We will always tell you who is dealing with your complaint. Our complaints procedure has two stages:
Stage one: Early, local resolution
We aim to resolve complaints quickly and close to where we provided the service. Where appropriate this
could mean an on-the-spot apology, and explanation if something has clearly gone wrong, and immediate
action to resolve the problem. Sometimes we will have to make some enquiries before we can respond to
your complaint. We will give you our decision at Stage One in five working days or less, unless there are
exceptional circumstances.
If we cannot resolve your complaint at this stage, we will explain why and tell you what you can do next. We might suggest that you take your complaint to Stage Two. You may choose to do this immediately or
sometime after you get our initial decision.
Stage two: Investigation
Stage Two deals with two types of complaint: those that have not been resolved at Stage One and those that are complex and require detailed investigation.
When using Stage Two we will:
If our investigation will take longer than 20 working days, we will tell you. We will agree revised time limits with you and keep you updated on progress.