How to make a complaint about Health and Social Care services
If you need help to find out where you should go to complain about a health or social care service, please look over the information below or feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to assist you to find the right place to make a complaint.
You can also find lots of useful information about how to make a complaint on the Citizens Advice website.
For a printable version of this document please click here: Kirklees – Complaints flow chart
Is the person at risk of harm or abuse?
Dial 999 in an emergency
For adults who are at risk of harm or abuse
Gateway to Care general helpline 01484 414933, 24 hour 365 day a year telephone service
Text “Gateway” and your question to 07781482931
E-mail gatewaytocare@kirklees.gov.uk
Visit Kirklees Council‘s website for more information on recognising and reporting abuse.
For children who are at risk of harm or abuse
Children’s Duty & Advice Service (from 9am-5pm)
01484 414960
01484 414933 (before 9am and after 5pm)
For out of hours emergencies, the public are asked to call the relevant emergency service.
NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000, email help@nspcc.org.uk, text 88858 (free service)
Complaining about Social Care Services
If you have a complaint about any social care service, it is usually best to approach the person in charge of providing the service, for example, the owner or manager of the care home which you are making the complaint about. They may be able to deal with your complaint quickly and easily and help you to feel happier about the service being provided to you or someone you care about.
Comments, compliments and complaints about adult social care services
If you do not want to complain directly to the service provider you can contact Kirklees Council Customer Services Manager:
Write to: Civic Centre 3 Market Street Huddersfield HD1 2YZ
Tel: 01484 225115
E-mail: SSCU@kirklees.gov.uk
Comments, compliments and complaints about children’s social care services
Complaints, Comments and Compliments Unit, FREEPOST, Kirklees 1479
Telephone: 01484 225140
Email: childrens.complaints@kirklees.gov.uk
Text: COMPLAIN to 80800 – The Complaints, Comments and Compliments Unit will get in touch with you as soon as possible to discuss your complaint. There is no charge for this service.
Complaining about Hospital, Community Care and Mental Health Services
If you have a complaint about any hospital or community care service, it is often helpful to speak to the person in charge, for example the Manager, the Matron, the Ward Sister or Therapist. They will listen to your concerns and may be able to look into what has happened without the need for you to make a complaint.
If you cannot resolve your complaint informally, you can make a formal complaint via the following contacts:
To complain to Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Write to: Patient Liaison Team, Level C, Pinderfields Hospital, Aberford Road, Wakefield, WF1 4DG
Tel: 01924 542972
E-mail: pals@midyorks.nhs.uk
To complain to Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
Write to: Patient Advice and Complaints Service, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Acre Street, Lindley, Huddersfield HD3 3EA
Tel: 0800 013 0018
E-mail: patientadvice@cht.nhs.uk
To complain to Locala
A wide range of Community Health Services are delivered by Locala. Services include health visitors, speech and language therapists, stop smoking support to district nursing as well as dental care, school nurses, foot care and physiotherapy. Locala’s services are offered in health centres, surgeries, Holme Valley Memorial Hospital as well as in the home.
Write to: Freepost Plus RSCJ-LHSU-SEGH, Customer Liaison Team, Locala Community Partnerships CIC, First Floor, Beckside Court, Bradford Road, Batley WF17 5PW
Tel: 01924 351531
E-mail: enquiry@locala.org.uk
Visit their website: Locala – tell us what you think
To complain to South West Yorkshire NHS Partnership Foundation Trust
A wide range of Mental Health Services are delivered by South West Yorkshire NHS Partnership Foundation Trust (SWFT), including inpatient care, community mental health services, intensive home based treatment, Admiral Nurses and much more.
Write to: Customer Services, South West Yorkshire NHS Partnership Foundation Trust, Block 10, Fieldhead, Ouchthorpe Lane, Wakefield, WF1 3SP
Tel: 0800 5872108
E-mail: customer.servicesSWYT@nhs.net
Read the Customer Services leaflet here
You can also complain to the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) who commission (buy in) the majority of health services for people in Kirklees, including emergency care, elective hospital care, maternity services and community and mental health services.
To complain to North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group
NHS North Kirklees CCG, 4th Floor, Empire House, Wakefield Old Road, Dewsbury WF12 8DJ
Tel: 01924 504900
Or visit their website North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group
To complain to Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group
NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG, Bradley Business Park, Dyson Wood Way, Bradley, Huddersfield HD2 1GZ
Tel: 01484 464000
Or visit their website Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group
Complaining about primary care eg Dentists, GP’s and Pharmacies
If you have a complaint about any primary care service, it is usually best to approach the person in charge of providing the service, for example, the Practice Manager at your GP surgery. They may be able to deal with your complaint quickly and easily and help you to feel happier about the service being provided to you or someone you care about. Each service should have their own complaints policy and procedure which you can request a copy of.
If you have tried to resolve your complaint at local level and this has failed, or if you feel unable to complain directly to the service provider yourself, you can register an official complaint with NHS England. You have several options for doing this:
Write to: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT
E-mail: england.contactus@nhs.net with ‘for the attention of the complaints manager’ in the subject line
Phone: 0300 311 22 33 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, excluding English bank holidays)
Provide as much information as possible to allow NHS England to investigate your complaint. Include some or all of the following:
- your name and a valid email or home address for reply;
- a clear description of your complaint;
- copies of earlier associated correspondence between yourself and NHS England;
- any valid correspondence case reference numbers.
NHS England aim to respond to all complaints within 20 working days. If they are unable to reply within this time, they will let you know and provide a realistic estimate of when you can expect a reply.
Alternative ways and places to give feedback
Healthwatch
Leave a review on your local Healthwatch website. You can do this anonymously and providers can leave a response Healthwatch Kirklees
NHS website
You can make general comments about any NHS service on the NHS website. You can also use this site to find information on health conditions and to find local services.
Care Opinion
You can comment on social care and health services on this website Care Opinion
Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission make sure hospitals, care homes, dental and GP surgeries, and all other care services in England provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care, and encourage them to make improvements.
Care Quality Commission, CQC National Correspondence, PO Box 1258, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 5AU
03000 616161
enquiries@cqc.org.uk
You can share your experience on the CQC website.
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council (GMC) deals with the most serious complaints about doctors. These are complaints that might require a doctor’s registration to be restricted or removed to protect patients and uphold public confidence in the medical profession. They are one of a number of organisations responsible for considering patients’ concerns and, depending on the circumstances, it may be more appropriate for you to raise your concerns with another one of these organisations first.
Tel: 0161 923 6602
General Dental Council
The General Dental Council set and maintain standards in UK dentistry. Your dental professional must be registered and must continue to meet expectations throughout their careers. The General Dental Council can take action if they do not.
Tel: 0845 222 4141 or 020 7887 3800
Advocacy and support when making a complaint
Touchstone Advocacy Kirklees
Advocacy Kirklees is a new advocacy service for Kirklees delivered by Touchstone in partnership with Advonet. This service will run from the 1st October 2018. This service works to empower individuals across Kirklees to know their rights, make choices and decisions about their lives and to ensure that their wants, needs and wishes are heard. For more information please visit the Touchstone Advocacy Kirklees website
Advocacy Kirklees, Touchstone, No.9 Wellington Road, Dewsbury, WF13 1HF
Tel: 01924 460 211
E-mail: advocacy@touchstonesupport.org.uk
Children’s Rights Service
This service will support and advocate for children and young people who want to complain about the way they are being cared for or about a children’s social care service they are receiving.
Write to or drop in:
Kirklees Children’s Rights Service
Brian Jackson House (2nd Floor)
New North Parade
Huddersfield
HD1 5JP
Freephone: 0800 389 3312
email: childrens.rights@kirklees.gov.uk
Ombudsman
If you have made a formal complaint but are unhappy with the response, you can ask the Ombudsman to look into your complaint further.
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman – the Ombudsman for all health service related complaints.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, London SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 015 4033
Minicom: 0300 061 4298 (Calls to these numbers cost the same as a call to a UK landline)8:30am – 5:30pm Monday – Friday
Request a call back – Text ‘call back’ with your name and your mobile number to 07624 813 005 to receive a call back within one working day during office hours.
www.ombudsman.org.uk
Local Government Ombudsman – for complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services.
For help with making a complaint please call on 0300 061 0614. (Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02) from both mobiles and landlines, and will be included as part of any inclusive call minutes or discount schemes in the same way as geographic calls. Please note that calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.)
The lines are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.00pm.
You can visit their website at www.lgo.org.uk or use the complaint form.
Alternatively, you can write to:
The Local Government Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry CV4 0EH
You can also text ‘call back’ to 0762 480 3014. And you can contact using a textphone via the Text Relay service (formerly Typetalk).