Our NHS Complaints Advocacy Helpline team is available to answer your questions. You can speak to us directly on 0300 330 5454 or email us at nhscomplaints@voiceability.org
Below we have a list of frequently asked questions. If we have answered other questions that you think would be helpful for others, please let us know and we can add it to our website.
Who can complain?
In some cases, you can make a complaint on behalf of someone else.
Whether you want to complain about care and treatment you have received, or someone you know, you can contact the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service for support.
When should I complain?
How are NHS Complaints Advocacy Services independent from the NHS?
How is the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service different from PALS?
An NHS Complaints Advocacy Service is completely independent of the NHS and will support you through the NHS complaints procedure.
I don’t know if I want to complain. How can you help me?
We can send you an information pack, which will help you make a complaint if that is what you have decided to do. You can also download the pack on this website. The pack has lots of information that will help you make a complaint.
If you decide that you want to make a complaint, but don’t want to make it by yourself, our advocates can support you through the process until you are satisfied that the best possible resolution has been achieved.
How will my advocate support me?
- explore the options available to you at each stage of the complaints procedure
- help you to write an effective complaint letter
- help you to prepare for a meeting and attend
- contact and speak to third parties
- consider whether you are satisfied with the response you receive from the NHS provider.
Your Advocate will not try to persuade you to take a particular course of action and will always respect your decisions and act upon your instruction.
Is there anything that my advocate won’t be able to do?
We won’t contact people without talking it through with you first and getting your agreement.
We cannot give you medical or legal advice. If you want information about legal assistance you should contact the Community Legal Advice service.
We cannot support people whose healthcare and treatment is being provided by a private provider, but can if the healthcare and treatment is NHS funded.
Will my NHS Complaints Advocacy Service advocate go to meetings with me?
What will be achieved if I do make a complaint?
You might want to get an answer about a particular concern or an apology about something that has happened. You might want to get assurances that the NHS are going to improve the way they work, to avoid similar situations in the future.
Whatever the result is that you want; our advocates can help you achieve it.
What won't I get from making a complaint?
If you want to get financial compensation for medical carelessness, for example if a surgery went wrong, you will need to take legal action. You would need to speak to a solicitor who is specially trained to work on medical or clinical negligence cases, within three years of the event.
If you feel that a member of NHS staff should go through formal disciplinary procedures, you cannot use the NHS complaints procedure to do this. However, this may happen as a result of a complaint you make through separate internal NHS procedures.
Useful Websites:
- If you want information about legal assistance you should contact the Community Legal Advice service.
- Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) is the UK charity for patient safety and justice. They provide free and confidential advice and support to people affected by medical accidents.
- General Medical Council (GMC) registers doctors to practise medicine in the UK. They protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine.
- The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) regulates nurses and midwives, setting standards and dealing with concerns and allegations if they do not meet those standards.
My mother is elderly and I don´t feel she could manage a complaints process. Can I complain for her?
My partner has Alzheimer's Disease. Do I still need their permission to make a complaint?
My father died and I didn't have his consent to act for him. Can I complain about his treatment?
My nephew is 15 and has Down's Syndrome. Can I complain on his behalf without his written permission?
If you make a complaint on behalf of a child, the service you complain to must not consider the complaint unless there is a good reason why you are making the complaint rather than the child.
If the service is not satisfied that there is a good enough reason, they must write to you and tell you their reasons for not accepting the complaint.
If the service believes that a complaint is being made on behalf of a child, or on behalf of someone who lacks capacity, and the complaint is not in that person’s best interest, they must refuse to investigate the matter. They will write and explain their reasons to you.
Can I complain about something that happened some time ago?
• within 12 months of the incident happening, or • within 12 months of realising you had something to complain about.
NHS organisations are allowed to waive this time limit if there are good reasons (for example, if you were too ill at the time) and/or it is possible to investigate the complaint effectively.