About the complaints process

If you're staying in hospital or visiting an inpatient 

Talk to the ward sister or charge nurse (wearing a navy blue uniform with white trim). They will listen to your concerns, explain the situation, agree what actions should be taken and update you on progress as required.

 

If you are an outpatient

Please ask the staff at any reception area to put you in touch with the member of staff you need to talk to.

 

If you would rather talk to someone from outside the ward/department

Please contact PALS. This team provides support to patients, their families and visitors.

Ask a member of staff to direct you to their office. You can also contact them on:

Freephone: 0800 183 0204 (free from a UK landline or mobile)

From a mobile or abroad: 0115 924 9924 Ext: 85412 or 82301

Email: pals@nuh.nhs.uk

If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, you can make a complaint by writing to:

Anthony May
Chief Executive
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
City Hospital
Hucknall Road
Nottingham
NG5 1PB

 

Writing a complaint

• Ideally, all complaints should be made within six months of the issue, as this makes it easier to investigate the complaint and respond as quickly as possible.
• Please give as much information as you can, including your name and address. If relevant, also include the name of the doctor or nurse caring for you, the ward name and your hospital number.
• If you are raising more than one concern please number each point. This helps us to make sure we answer all of your concerns.
• A friend or relative can make a complaint on your behalf. If you wish to do this we will ask you to sign a consent form, giving us permission to disclose your personal information to this person. 
• We will send you a letter to acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will do our best to give you a full reply as quickly as possible - usually within 25 to 40 working days. If we think it will take longer than this to investigate your complaint fully, we will let you know.
• Sometimes, we may invite you to a meeting to discuss your case with the relevant staff. You can invite a relative or friend to this meeting.

On receipt of your complaint, we undertake initial checks to ensure:

• That we have the patient’s full details to enable us to identify the correct health records.
• That consent to share is obtained if the complaint relates to any external organisations, to enable us to provide a single complaint response.
• That the complaint is made within twelve months of the event.

If we have a contact telephone number for you, we will attempt to contact you to discuss the handling of your concerns.

• We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within three working days from receipt.
• We will request consent to disclose confidential information (if required). 
• We will seek consent for the Trust to use the complaint as an opportunity to learn and make improvements for the benefit of future patients.
• We will identify a single point of contact for the duration of the complaint investigation.
• We will advise of the timescale in which we aim to provide our reply or to have met with you.

During the complaint investigation:

• A thorough investigation is carried out by a nominated investigator.
• If any further information is required, the investigator will contact you directly to discuss this.
• If we are delayed in our response, we will write to you at four weekly intervals to provide an update.

Investigation outcomes:

Having completed our investigation we will provide you with a response either in writing or (if appropriate) during a recorded complaint meeting.

From the complaints process NHS organisations can:

• Carry out an investigation and offer an explanation for what happened.
• Offer an apology or some other statement of regret.
• Learn from your complaint, take steps to put matters right and assure you that they have done so.

The complaints procedure cannot look at disciplinary issues, for example, whether a staff member should be sacked, 'strike off' a health professional or suspend their registration, or look at complaints about treatment provided privately unless it was paid for by the NHS.

The Trust will take your complaint seriously.

Your complaint is not kept in your medical notes, so it will not affect your future care in any way.

NUH values your opinion and we are committed to learning from all of the complaints we receive.  To improve the service we provide we share anonymised complaints at a range of forums - including sharing with ward teams, at safety meetings, at public Trust Board meetings, on the Trust’s website and the Internet (public); we share our learning and improvements more widely with our patients, local community and staff.

If you have further questions or simply require a further explanation regarding part of the response:

• Please come back to us within four weeks of receipt and we will be pleased to provide further clarification or arrange for you to speak with the investigator

If you are dissatisfied with the response:

• Please write to the Chief Executive detailing the aspects of your complaint that you do not feel our response fully addressed, we can reopen your complaint.

You can request an independent review of your complaint.  To do this you will need to contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), requesting a review. You must do this within 12 months of when you became aware of the problem you complained about. The PHSO will not investigate your case before you have received our response. You can contact the PHSO through their website: www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint.