How to make a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint, this can be done by telephone, in person or in writing. You may wish to raise your complaint with the Registered Manager of Dr Milli Health (this is currently Dr Milli Raizada).

 

The Registered Manager is responsible for investigating complaints, and for ensuring that all complaints are dealt with. If you feel it is necessary to complain directly to the Registered Manager, please contact:

 

Dr Milli Raizada

Goosefoot Lane,Preston, Lancashire, PR5 0RP.

 

Telephone: 07886 579038  

 

Email: info@drmilli.co.uk

 

If your complaint is made by telephone or in person, we will make a written record of your complaint and will provide you with an acknowledgement letter within 2 working days. You are fully entitled to make your complaint in writing. Our acknowledgment letter will contain the name of the person who will investigate your complaint.

 

How your complaint will be investigated and handled

Your complaint will be thoroughly investigated. This will be done within 20 working days, and we will provide you with a written response detailing the outcome of the investigation and any action that has been taken.

 

During the investigation, the Registered Manager will need to collect and examine evidence in a variety of ways. This may include carrying out interviews, looking at written records and documentation and they may wish to visit you or speak to you over the phone.

 

The Registered Manager will keep you informed about the progress of the investigation, either by telephone or in writing.

 

If the matter of the complaint is particularly complex it may take longer than 20 working days to investigate. We will let you know about the delay, and a new date for the conclusion of the investigation will be agreed.

 

Any communication about your complaint, and the outcome of the complaint, will always be conveyed to you in writing. All investigations regarding complaints must be concluded within 6 months.

 

In handling the complaint, we expect that the person making the complaint is entitled to:

• Have their complaint acknowledged and properly investigated.

• Be kept informed of progress and informed when there is an outcome.

• Be treated fairly, politely, and with respect throughout the process.

• Have confidence that their care and treatment will not be affected as a result of making a complaint.

• Have the opportunity to discuss the complaint with a manager (Dr Milli Raizada is the registered manager)

• Expect appropriate action to be taken following the complaint.

NOTE: we are aware at Dr Milli health that there is one sole worker who is also the registered manager, the complaint may need to be escalated as objectivity is essential or may be a complaint against myself. In these situations, we may where appropriate, ensure the complaint will be reviewed independently, e.g a collaborative practice (Dr Indra) or by an independent reviewer e.g. HLTH group to ensure objectivity.

 

At Dr Milli health, we want to ensure when dealing with complaints we are

 

1. Customer focused.

2. Open and accountable (and in adherence with regulation 20 Duty of Candour of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 Regulated activities 2014)

3. Acting fairly and proportionately

4. Putting things right

5. Seeking continuous improvement

 

When dealing with a complaint

• We would want to know what happened and what was wrong

• Offer an apology & explanation

• Ensure the issue does not arise again

• In some cases it may be appropriate to issue a refund

• Complainants will not be discriminated against for complaining

 

 

Time limit to make a complaint.

A complaint should be made as soon as possible after an event and not more than 12 months after the date the matter complained about occurred, or the date that the patient/client was aware of the event. The time limit can be extended if there were good grounds for not making the complaint earlier and it is still possible to investigate the complaint fairly and effectively.

 

Confidentiality

All complaints will be treated in the strictest confidence.

 

Duty of candour

As a practice we understand our responsibilities relating to the statutory duty of candour.

As such the registered manager will notify the relevant person as soon as reasonably practicable after becoming aware that a notifiable safety incident has occurred.

 

As part of this we will provide an account which will be accurate and will contain all the facts the registered manager knows about the incident as at the date of the notification.

 

We will also advise the relevant person what further enquiries into the incident we believe to be appropriate to fully comply with our responsibilities under the duty of candour.

 

This will include an apology and will be recorded in a written record that will be kept securely by the registered person.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint

After Dr Milli Health has fully dealt with your complaint and if you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may wish to complain and refer your complaint to Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) who are an alternative dispute resolution provider scheme. They provide independent mediation (over the phone) between subscribing organisations and their patients if they are unable to resolve their complaints directly through the organisation's own complaints procedure.

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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) encourages (as a matter of good practice) all independent healthcare providers to offer an independent external review stage that can provide patients with a route to resolve a complaint if it is not resolved via the providers' in-house complaints process.

 

One independent adjudication scheme for private healthcare is the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) which is hosted within CEDR. Subscribing to ISCAS requires independent healthcare providers to adopt the ISCAS Code which mandates a strict three-stage complaints process but small independent healthcare providers and sole practitioners (like Dr Milli health) may not be able to operate under the code due to limited resources and the number of personnel employed. In order to ensure patients of these providers can access alternative dispute resolution, CEDR has established the Private Healthcare Mediation Scheme in collaboration with ISCAS.

 

Further information can be found at: https://www.cedr.com/consumer/healthcare/privatehealthcaremediation/.

 

The contact details for the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) are:

 

Tel: 020 7520 3800

Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution

100 St. Paul's Churchyard

London

EC4M 8BU

W: cedr.com/consumer/

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Complaints from Representatives

We will only accept complaints from a patient’s representative if they have the consent of the patient; or when the patient cannot complain unaided. The representative must always be acting in the patient’s best interests.

 

Anonymous Complaints

Any complaints that are made anonymously will be taken seriously and the details of the complaint documented. If you make an anonymous complaint, it will be investigated but we will not be able to provide you with details of the outcome.

 

Recording of Complaints

Finalised complaints will be kept securely on a secure Microsoft teams complaints folder for up to 5 years ; and the details and subject of all individual complaints are logged on our Complaints Control Spreadsheet (so that they can audited).

 

Advocacy

If you require assistance in understanding this procedure or support in making your

complaint, we can provide you with details of local advocacy services. Please contact the Registered Manager for further information.