Help to make a complaint

If you feel comfortable doing so, it’s always best to mention your concerns to the member of staff you are dealing with or their manager, at the time the incident took place. They may be able to sort things out for you.

Complaints should usually be made within 12 months of the date of the event, or as soon as you became aware of the issue. Complaints are much harder to look into if they’re from a while ago. 

This should either be the service directly or the commissioner. You cannot complain to both at the same time. More information on who to complain to can be found here.  

If you need help with making a complaint, get in touch with local advocacy services for some support. More information on who can support with complaints can be found here. 

Make it clear that you are making a complaint straight away to avoid any confusion. This could be at the top of the letter, or in the subject line of an email. 

Services will need to contact you to follow up on your complaint and let you know of any progress. Make sure any contact details you provide are up-to-date. 

Make sure to include all the information needed for your complaint to be looked into, such as:

• What happened
• Who was involved? E.g. doctor, nurse, social worker
• When it happened. E.g. the date and time
• Where it happened. E.g. which service, the location, ward
• How the issue has impacted you or someone else

Decide what you would like to see changed as a result of your complaint. This could be an apology from the service, or how the service plans on making sure the same thing doesn’t happen again. 

Keep a note of anyone involved in the complaint including the people dealing with this. It’s also good to keep a record of any letters or emails you get as you may need to refer back to these in the future. Make sure to keep a record of the complaint you have sent too. 

If after following the complaints process the issue(s) still haven’t been resolved or you disagree with the outcome, you can ask to speak to the person who dealt with the complaint. Sometimes they may agree to look into the matter further but this might not always be an option. To find out what additional steps you can take after a complaints been made visit our guide here. 

Each service should have their own complaints procedure which can be found on their website, or you can request the details from the surgery directly.

This should provide you with the name of the person you address your concerns to such as the GP Practice Manager, and the time it will take them to respond to you.

If you do not want to complain to the service directly you can contact the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to make a complaint. The Derbyshire ICB is responsible for commissioning health services in Derbyshire.

If you are unhappy with your care whilst in hospital as a patient or when visiting for treatment, if you feel comfortable it’s always best to mention your concern to the member of staff you are dealing with or their manager. They may be able to sort things out for you.

Each hospital in Derbyshire has a dedicated team who can provide information on the complaints procedures at that hospital, offer confidential advice and support, and help you to become more involved in your care. To find out which team to contact, click on the hospital names below.

If you do not want to contact the hospital directly you can contact the NHS Derbyshire Integrated Care Board.

You can complain about any aspect of adult social care, regardless of whether the service is provided by the local council, a private company or a voluntary organisation. Each social care service will have its own complaints procedure, which should be available to you on request.

For residents in Derbyshire County your complaint should be dealt with by Derbyshire County Council. There are slightly different procedures for complaining about adult and children’s social care services.

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You should also tell us about the poor care that you have seen or experienced. Whilst we can’t deal with complaints on your behalf or provide advocacy, if you tell us your experiences we can help to make sure services learn from their mistakes and stop others having the same issues.

If you’ve had a response from the service following making a complaint, and the issue is still not resolved, you can decide to take the issue further. How you do this will depend on the service you have made a complaint about. 

If you’re not happy with the response to a health care complaint you can ask the independent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to look at your complaint. They are the final stage for unresolved complaints and will expect that you have complained to the organisation you’re unhappy with, before contacting them. 

If your complaint was about social care services contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. 

The final steps taking legal action, for example for clinical negligence. This can be expensive so it’s sensible to get legal advice first.