Compliments, Complaints & Feedback

Patient Advice and Liaison Team (PALS)

We are a confidential advice, support and information service and welcome feedback about our services as we recognise the value that comments, complaints, concerns and compliments can provide. Your feedback assists us in developing better quality and higher standards of healthcare for all of our service users, carers and families. 

Contact us

You can contact us by completing the form further down this page or via the contact details listed below.

• Telephone: 01905 681517
• Email: WHCNHS.PALS@nhs.net 
• Address: Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, 2 Kings Court, Charles Hastings Way, Worcester, WR5 1JR

We aim to respond within two working days and are available Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm, with the exclusion of bank holidays.

If you wish to contact the Chief Executive directly, please send letters to the above address. 

If your enquiry relates to care provided by a GP practice or acute hospital in Herefordshire or Worcestershire, please contact the following organisations:

• GP practices and the commissioning of services — NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire 
• Emergency departments in Worcestershire and services ran from Worcestershire Royal, the Alexandra and Kidderminster Hospitals - Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
• Emergency departments and community services in Herefordshire, and services ran from Hereford County Hospital — Wye Valley NHS Trust.

How we can help you

We are committed to providing safe and high-quality care to all of our patients and service users. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of care or treatment we will:

• Work with you to understand your concerns and seek to resolve them to your satisfaction.
• Where a mistake or error has been made this will be acknowledged and you will receive an apology.
• You will receive an explanation of what went wrong and what has been done to ensure that it does not recur. 

In accordance with the Principles for Remedy published by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust has taken action to ensure that we are: 

• Getting it right
• Being customer focussed
• Being open and accountable
• Acting fairly and proportionately
• Putting things right
• Seeking continuous improvement

Compliments Complaints and Suggestions

Raising a concern 

Concerns are often best raised with staff, the team or their manager at the time as those involved in your care value the opportunity to resolve these with you. However we do understand that sometimes you may not wish to raise a concern directly with the staff or team involved so our team is here to help and will offer you independent advice and support to resolve the concern. 

Making a complaint

Complaints are regarded as a positive opportunity to receive direct feedback on a person’s perception of the quality of a service and more importantly, as an opportunity for us to learn how services could be improved. A complaint should usually be made as soon as possible after the event and within 12 months of the date when you became aware of the issue.  

We encourage you to take the time to make telephone contact on: 01905 681517 so that all options to resolve your complaint can be explored with you. However, you may not wish to speak to the team so if this is the case you can write to our Chief Executive or our team.

If a formal complaint is pursued we will appoint an investigating officer to look into the issues you have raised. We aim to respond to you within 25 working days, however there are times when we may need longer and we will contact you to agree an extension to the timescale. At the conclusion of our investigations we will write to you and provide you with an explanation of events and an apology if we need to.  

Sharing your compliments

As a Trust we receive a large number of compliments from service users, carers and their families who wish to express their gratitude for services received. Compliments are therefore important feedback for us and are seen as a means of learning how things have gone well.

We are always delighted to receive compliments about our services and teams. If you would like to share your appreciation you may do so by contacting the staff member, the ward or team manager, our Patient Relations Team or our Chief Executive. Please see contact details here.

Comments and suggestions

Many of our services have comment cards or books available for you to provide a suggestion. However if these are not available or you wish to share your comments directly with our team, please contact us as we would be pleased to pass these to the service on your behalf.

Your Feedback

Note: Questions marked by * are mandatory

What service did you access?

At what location?

When was this?

What was positive about your experience?

What are your main concerns?

How can we resolve it?

Any other comments or feedback?