Complaints

We work hard to provide you with good care, but recognise that sometimes things don’t go according to plan. We need to know what we can do better so that we can provide you with the best possible service.

We take any complaints very seriously and investigate each case in full. Every effort is made to understand what happened, to explain this to the person making the complaint and to ensure that any necessary changes are made to our practices.

Before you make a complaint
If you have any concerns about your treatment or service, please speak to a member of staff involved in your care. They will try to resolve the problem immediately.

How to make a complaint
If we cannot resolve your concerns immediately and you wish to make a formal complaint, please send a letter to the following address:
Partnership for Health
NHS Tower
St Charles Hospital
Exmoor Street
London
W10 6DZ

If you wish to make a complaint please do so as soon as possible and include as much information as you can. If you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else, you must send us a letter, signed by the person concerned, which gives us permission to discuss their personal information.

Please note that your complaint cannot be investigated if you decide to initiate legal proceedings against Partnership for Health, because the two processes are mutually exclusive. Writing a letter of complaint does not affect your right to initiate legal action in the future.

Our response
We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days of receiving it, and begin to investigate the issue.

Your complaint will be investigated by relevant senior staff, and the managing director will then respond to you on behalf of Partnership for Health. We aim to respond to you within 25 working days. If our response is delayed, we will discuss this with you.

Further action
If you make a complaint we hope that you will be satisfied with the outcome of our investigation and that we have taken appropriate action. If for any reason you are not satisfied, you can request in writing that we carry out a second investigation, or you can request to meet with senior staff responsible for the department or service involved in your complaint to discuss your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response you have received, you may wish to refer your complaint in writing to the Health Service Ombudsman:
Address: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0845 015 4033 (from Monday to Friday, 08.00 to 18.00)
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

Impartial advice
If you would like independent and impartial advice about making a complaint, you can contact POhWER, your local independent complaints advocacy service (ICAS).
Telephone: 0845 120 3065
Email: pohwericas@pohwericas.net
Website: www.pohwer.net

Patient confidentiality
To investigate any complaint, we may need to disclose information from your health records to the investigating staff. Only information relevant to the investigation of your complaint will be disclosed. If you do not want information from your health records to be disclosed please let us know. Please be aware that this might affect the extent to which we can investigate your complaint.