Your comments and suggestions are important to us, please click on the link below and complete the form to send them to us. Please only use this form for comments about the practice and suggestions as to how we can improve our service to you.

Medical matters and official complaints cannot be dealt with via this form. If you have a query regarding a medical matter please telephone reception to make an appointment to see the appropriate person.

Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily with the person concerned, often at the time they arise, and 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, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, giving as much detail as you can, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:

• Within 12 months of the incident,
• or within 12 months of you becoming aware of the matter

If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are not normally able to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority. See below for what to do in this case.

Send your written complaint to:

Debbie Allen - Practice Manager

Via email to:

reynard.surgery@nhs.net

Complaints procedure leaflet

If you do not wish to raise your complaint directly with the Practice, you may make your complaint directly to Suffolk & North East Essex Integrated Care Board via their email address complaints@snee.nhs.uk, who commission our service.

Please note, you cannot complain to both the Practice and the ICB.

What We Do Next

We do our best to settle complaints as soon as possible.

We aim to acknowledge receipt within three working days, and to resolve the matter as soon as possible and will try to give you some idea of how long that may take at the outset. You will 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, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.

When looking into a complaint, we attempt to see what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this, and make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you wish to do so.

When the investigations are complete, a final written response will be sent to you.

Where your complaint has been initially sent to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.

The practice complaints manager is:

Debbie Allen - Practice Manager

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

We keep 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. In the event the patient is deceased, then we may agree to respond to a family member or anyone acting on their behalf or who has had an interest in the welfare of the patient.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness, accident or mental capacity, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances that 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.  You may also find that if you are complaining on behalf of a child who is capable of making their own complaint, we will expect that child to contact us themselves to lodge their complaint.

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

Alternatively you can contact Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 01284 758010 or write to:
West Suffolk house
Western Way
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP33 3YU.

Email address is http://www.westsuffolkccg.nhs.uk/

Alternatively you can contact and refer the complaint to the:
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

or visit the 'Making a complaint page' at http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint (to complain online or download a paper form).

Alternatively the complainant may call the PHSO Customer Helpline on 0345 015 4033 from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday or send a text to their 'call back' service: 07624 813 005.