Complaints Policy

Practice Name	Turloughmore Health Centre
Practice Address	Lackagh, Co. Galway
Practice Phone Number	091 797106
Data Controllers	Dr. Brendan Day, Dr. Eamonn Twomey, Prof. Andrew Murphy, Ms. Denise Fitzmaurice, Ms. Orla Moran
Complaints Officers/ Practice Managers	Ms. Denise Fitzmaurice / Ms. Orla Moran
Complaints Managers	Prof. Andrew Murphy / Dr. Eamonn Twomey
Lead for Data Protection	Ms. Denise Fitzmaurice / Ms. Orla Moran
Date Protocol Drafted	02.12.2019

In this practice we want all our patients to be pleased with the service they receive, so we take complaints very seriously.

We try, insofar as possible, to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience and quality of our service.

Aim

If a patient makes a complaint, we will deal with it promptly and courteously. A complaint may indicate a failing on our part from which we can learn and make improvements to our service. Our aim is to resolve the complaint as quickly as possible following the agreed procedure and, wherever possible, to the satisfaction of all parties.

The responsible person(s)/complaints officers in our practice for dealing with any complaint are the practice managers, Ms. Denise Fitzmaurice and Ms. Orla Moran.

The complaints manager(s) for the practice are Prof. Andrew Murphy and Dr. Eamonn Twomey.  s

If a verbal complaint is made to a member of reception staff, they will listen empathically with the complainant and then offer to refer the matter to the practice manager Ms. Denise Fitzmaurice or Ms. Orla Moran without delay.

If Ms. Fitzmaurice or Ms. Moran is not available at that time then the patient will be advised when they will be able to talk to them or to the doctor and make arrangements for this meeting. The member of reception will send a detailed message to the practice manager on this. If a complaint is about some aspect of the clinical care that has been received it will normally be referred to the relevant doctor.

The practice manager will contact the patient making the complaint. A record of this conversation and complaint will be made. The practice manager will request that all complaints are issued to us in writing and addressed directly to them.

All complaints will be acknowledged in writing by the practice manager or GP, normally within three working days, and we will forward a copy of this Complaints Policy with that acknowledgement.

We will do our best to investigate the complaint in a timely manner within 10 working days.

A patient may be offered to meet with us to discuss this. If the patient does not wish to meet us during this investigation of the complaint, we will attempt to talk with them on the telephone.

In our investigation of any complaint we will aim to:

• establish the facts
• facilitate a discussion of the problem with those concerned
• explore approaches aimed at resolving the complaint, and,
• identify what we can do to ensure that any problems identified during our investigation do not happen again.

On completion of our investigation and where it is appropriate, we will write to the complainant with our conclusion and a suggested remedy.

Proper records will be kept of any complaint received, in addition to any actions taken to resolve the complaint and to improve services as a result of the complaint.

If a third party, i.e. a relative, friend, wishes to complain on behalf of the patient who has been treated in our practice, it is important to understand that we have to adhere to the rules of patient confidentiality. Therefore, we would need the patient’s permission before responding to the complainant.