Complaint Policy

1. Introduction

We always aim to provide a high standard of care in all our services.
Our customers’ views are important to us and help to ensure our services are consistently meeting people’s needs. If you are unhappy with any of our services, it is important that you let us know.

2. Making a suggestion

Often people feel more comfortable about suggesting improvements rather than complaining formally. Anyone receiving services, and their friends/ family, may make a suggestion.

First you should speak to Jo Mooney, Patient Manager.
Comments or suggestion boxes are available if you would rather make your suggestion that way.
If the suggestion is something that Dr Gayetri Ltd as a company needs to consider you can send it to:

Jo Mooney
Dr Gayetri Ltd
[email protected]

Making a complaint

We aim to handle complaints quickly, effectively and in a fair and honest way. We take all complaints seriously and use valuable information from investigating to help us improve the service we provide. We treat all complaints in confidence.
Dr Gayetri Ltd assures clients and their families that it will not withdraw or reduce services because someone makes a complaint in good faith.

Who can complain

Anybody affected by the way Dr Gayetri Ltd provides services can make a complaint.

A representative may complain for the affected person if they:

• have passed away
• cannot make a complaint themselves, or
• have given consent for the representative to act on their behalf

If you are not happy about making a complaint yourself and you do not know someone who can talk or write to us on your behalf, we will be happy to find someone from an independent organisation to act as an advocate for you.

How you can make a complaint

You can complain:

• in person
• by telephone
• through a member of our staff
• through an advocate or representative
• by letter
• by email

Anonymous complaints

We deal with anonymous complaints under the same procedure; however it is better if you can provide contact details so we can tell you the outcome of our investigation.

Responsibility

The Registered Manager has overall responsibility for dealing with all complaints made about their service.

We will provide as far as is reasonably practical:

• any help you need to understand the complaints procedure; or
• advice on where you may get that help.

How we handle complaints

The Registered Manager will investigate the complaint. That person will have enough seniority and experience to deal with the issues raised by the complaint.

We will acknowledge a complaint within 3 working days and give you the name and contact details of the person investigating it.

We will keep you informed about the progress of the investigation. We aim to have all complaints finished within 28 working days unless we agree to a different time scale with you.

When we have finished investigating, we will arrange to meet with you to discuss the outcome, and write to you with:

• details of the findings;
• any action we have taken; and
• our proposals to resolve your complaint.

Time limits

You should complain as soon as you can after the date on which the event occurred or came to your notice. If you complain more than twelve months later, we may not be able to investigate properly. But we shall also consider whether you had good reason for not making the complaint sooner and whether, despite the delay, it is still possible to investigate the complaint effectively and fairly.

Further steps

At any stage during the process, if you are not happy with the way the service is dealing with your complaint you can contact Dr Gayetri at: [email protected]

Once we have dealt with your complaint, if you are not happy with the outcome you can refer your complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and ask for it to be reviewed. The LGSCO provides a free independent service.

You can contact the Ombudsman at:

Tel: 0300 061 0614
Website: www.lgo.org.uk

NB: The LGSCO will not normally investigate a complaint until the provider has had an opportunity to respond and resolve matters.

*We can provide this policy in other languages or in other formats on request