Compliments, Complaints & Feedback

Compliments are important for us; they help us to see when things have gone well and to highlight good practice.

If you would like to give us a compliment, you can do so by:

• Completing the Friends and Family Test.
• Speak with a member of staff or ward/team manager directly.
• Contact our Patient Relations Team or our Chief Executive using the details further down this page.

Many of our services have comment cards or books available for you to provide a suggestion. If these are not available or you wish to share your comments directly you can do so by:

• Completing the Friends and Family Test.
• Speaking with a member of staff or ward/team manager directly.
• Contacting our Patient Relations Team using the details further down this page.

Concerns are often best raised with staff, the team or their manager at the time they occur, as those involved in your care value the opportunity to resolve these with you. 

We do understand that sometimes you may not wish to raise a concern directly with the staff or team involved, so our PALS service can support you to do this.

Contact details for our PALS team are available further down the page.

Our formal complaints process is also managed by our Patient Relations Team. You can contact them by completing the form further down this page, or by the details below:

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

Formal complaints are best received in writing, but we can also take complaints via telephone. We are available Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm, except on bank holidays.

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

A complaint should be made as soon as possible, within 12 months of the event or the date when you became aware of the issue. 

When making a complaint, please include:

• Your name and date of birth or NHS number
• A telephone number or email address for us to contact you on. 
• The details of your complaint, including dates and which service, site, department or ward it relates to. 

We aim to acknowledge any contacts within two working days. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we will require their consent for us to investigate and respond to you; we will provide you with a consent form to complete and return if it is required.

An investigating officer will look into the issues you have raised, and we aim to respond to you within 25 working days. If we need more time to investigate, we will contact you to agree an extension to the timescale. When we have finished investigating, we will write to you and provide you with an explanation of events and an apology where appropriate, and what we will do differently to minimise the possibility of it happening again. 

PALS is an advice, support and information service provided by our Patient Relations Team. You can contact PALS by completing the form further down this page, or by:

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

We are available Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm, except on bank holidays. We aim to acknowledge any contacts within two working days.

PALS will help you to raise any concerns you may have about the care we provide. The team will pass your comments to the right people around the Trust to ensure your enquiries are addressed, where possible within five working days. 

There are a number of organisations in Herefordshire and Worcestershire that are responsible for different health services outside of our remit; please follow these links if your enquiry relates to:

• GP practices and the commissioning of services — NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
• Emergency departments in Worcestershire and services provided by the 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.

If we receive a concern which relates to another service, we will get in touch to help you reach the correct place.

If you require independent support to raise a concern or make a complaint you may like to contact the local advocacy service at:

Onside Advocacy
Williamson House, 14 Charles Street, Worcester, WR1 2AQ
Telephone: 01905 27525
Email: info@onside-advocacy.org.uk    
Website: www.onside-advocacy.org.uk

There may be times when we are unable to resolve your complaint so if this is the case and you are dissatisfied with the way that we have managed your complaint you can ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to investigate this for you.  They can be contacted at:

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)
Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP
Telephone: 0345 015 4033
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk   
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

CQC - Care Qualitity Comission

You can provide feedback to the CQC online to share;

• an experience of care - it can be good or bad
• a concern about a service you work for

This is different from making a formal complaint. To make a formal complaint, you must contact the Trust PALS.

• Give feedback on care on the CQC website
• Telephone: 03000 616161
• Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk

Phone lines are open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm, excluding bank holidays.