Dr’s McVerry, McGee & Farnon

       Complaints Procedure

Listening Acting Improving

We operate a practice complaints procedure for dealing with Practice Complaints from Patients.

Our procedure meets agreed criteria set for all of the Health and Social Services.

Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal swiftly with any problems that occur.

                                                                              Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or are concerned about the Health Service treatment you have received from your doctor or any of the staff employed by this practice, please let us know.

We operate a practice complaints procedure to deal with complaints, which meets the criteria agreed for Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services.

How to Complain

We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and swiftly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be resolved in this way and you wish to make a complaint, let us know as soon as possible by putting your complaint in writing for the attention of the Practice Manager Clare Keenan.

Although you should make your complaint as soon as possible after the event, we can consider complaints made within six months of the date of discovering the problem.

The Practice Manager is responsible for investigating and responding to all complaints put forward in writing, it is very helpful if you clearly outline the nature/reason for the complaint, the date the incident occurred and the name of any staff member involved.

What We Will Do

We aim to acknowledge your complaint, if appropriate, within 3 working days. We will aim to investigate and responded to your complaint within 10 working days, the Practice Manager may also call you in order to establish further details regarding your complaint.

Should it not be possible for us to respond fully within 10 working days we will notify you of this and provide an estimated time scale of our response.

In Investigating your complaint, we aim to:

• Find out what happened and/or what went wrong

• Enable you to discuss the problem with those concerned (if you would like this)

• Ensure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate, and

• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not reoccur.

Complaining to your Health and Social Services Board

We hope that if you have a problem, you will make use of our Practice Complaints Procedure.

We believe that this will ensure the best opportunity to rectify whatever has gone wrong and improve our practice.

This does not affect your right to approach the Health & Social Care Board if you feel that you cannot raise your complaint with us. You can contact the The Health & Social Care Board’s Complaints Manager at the following address:

Health and Social Care Board

12-22 Linenhall Street

Belfast

BT2 8BS

If, on conclusion of the Practice’s investigation you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman’s contact details are as follows:

Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman

Progressive House 33 Wellington Place

Belfast

BT1 6HN

Freephone: 0800 343 424

Email: nipso@nipso.org.uk”

Making a Complaint on behalf of Someone Else

Please note that in accordance with GDPR Legislation, if you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we require a signed letter of consent from the individual involved.

Compliments, Concerns, or Comments Feedback

If you have any comments or concerns that you would like to put to us or if you like to let us know that what we are doing meets with your approval, you can address your concern in writing to our Practice Manager Clare Keenan