Alternatives to Litigation: The NHS Complaints Procedure

• Introduction
• The GMC and other Professional Bodies
• NHS Complaints
  • Step One: Local Resolution
  • Step Two: Independent Review
  • Step Three: The Health Service
  • Should I Make a Complaint?
  • How Can Michelmores Help?
  • Where Can I Get More Information?
• Patient Advocacy: PALS, ICAS, etc.
• Public Inquiries
• Regulatory Bodies

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How Can Michelmores Help?

We are very happy to provide informal advice regarding any NHS complaint you are considering.  We can explain your options, put you in touch with people who can help, and supply you with any other contact details you need.

Once you have made a complaint, however, it is not appropriate for us to provide you with advice.  As explained above, NHS complaints and legal action are "mutually exclusive" and the organisation to which you are complaining will be entitled to drop your complaint if it learns that you are being advised by a solicitor.

If you have already been through the complaints process, and want to talk to someone about what you have learned, or to discuss your future options, then you should also feel free to make contact with us.  You can also talk to us if you need to raise serious concerns about the way in which your complaint has been handled.

Where Else Can I Get Help with the Complaints Process?

If you decide that you want to make a formal complaint, there are a number of bodies that can provide you with support.  The kind of assistance you might appreciate includes:

• Advice about how the NHS Complaints Procedure works, and what options are available to you;
• Someone to support you in raising concerns, and someone to follow them up on your behalf;
• Help with writing letters and filling in forms;
• Assistance with understanding any replies you receive, and advice on what you might do next;
• Someone to arrange meetings to talk through worries with the clinician(s) about whom you have complained, or those who oversee their work; and
• Someone to accompany you to any hearings/interviews you are asked to attend.

Until recently, you might have turned to your local Community Health Council (CHC) forthis kind of help.  However, these bodies are currently in the process of being abolished.  A new system is coming into force, which includes Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) and Independent Complaints Advocacy Services (ICAS).  One of the new bodies (or a combination of them) should be able to provide the support you need.  For further details about these bodies, including how to contact them, please see our separate page on Patient Advocacy.