Practice Policies and Complaints Procedures

Making a Complaint

Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily, often at the time they arise with the person concerned. This may be the approach you try first.

Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:

Within 6 months of the incident behind the problem but no longer than 12 months; or
Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that is within
12 months of the incident.

If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are unable to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority.

We are able to provide you with a separate complaints form to register your complaint. This includes a third-party authority form to enable a complaint to be made by someone else. Please ask at reception for this. You can provide this in your own format providing this covers all the necessary aspects.

Send your written complaint to:

Ms Rachael Elliott (Practice Manager)

Dr Knox and Partners

Level 2

Lisburn PCCC

39 Hillsborough Road

Lisburn

BT28 1JP

What We Do Next

We look to settle complaints as soon as possible.

We will acknowledge receipt within three working days, and aim to have looked into the matter within 10 working days. You may then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet with the person(s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take longer than this we will let you know.

When looking into a complaint we attempt to:

see what happened and why
see if there is something we can learn from this
make sure you receive an apology, where appropriate

When the investigations are complete, your complaint will be determined and a final response sent to you.

Where a complaint involves more than one organisation (e.g. social services) we will liaise with that organisation so you receive a co-ordinated reply. We may need your consent to do this. Where your complaint has been initially sent to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to pass it to the correct person to be dealt with.

The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint as well as your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

We adhere to the strict rules of medical and personal
confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written
consent of the patient to confirm that they are
unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it.

Please ask at reception for the Complaints Form, which contains a suitable authority for the patient to sign to enable the complaint to proceed.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness or accident, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances which prevent this in your covering letter.

Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express
permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply.

We may still need to correspond directly with the patient, or may be able to deal direct with the third party,
and this depends on the wording of the authority
provided.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome

You have the right to approach the
Northern Ireland Commissioner for
Complaints (Ombudsman).

The contact details are:

The Ombudsman

Freepost BEL 1478

Belfast

BT1 6BR

Freephone 0800 343 424

Website: https://nipso.org.uk/

You may also:

Choose to complain directly to the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) who may, with the consent of all parties concerned, take on the role of ‘honest broker’ during the complaints process.

The practice Complaints Manager is: