Feedback and complaints

Let the trust know your views – so have your say!

Dudley Integrated Health & Care NHS Trust is passionate about making sure everyone of our patients has the best possible experience and that they feel listened to and treated with honesty, respect, and dignity always. We are always looking for ways to improve the services it offers to patients.

To do this effectively, the Trust needs to know what you think about the services you receive. So have your say, and tell us what we do best, where we do not meet your expectations plus any ideas and suggestions you may have.

Only by listening to you, can the Practice and wider Trust continue to build and improve upon the service it offers, help us to identify what we are doing right, but also where we need to make changes to improve the experience of our future patients.

However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.

How to raise feedback

Most types of feedback can often be resolved and sorted out quickly and easily, and we would always encourage our patients to resolve all such matters of concern or complaint, at the time when they arise and with the person concerned.

As a Trust, we are committed to local resolution and would ask that you reach out to our Practice Manager in the first instance to ensure they are made aware of such concerns immediately, so appropriate and timely resolution can be sought and achieved.

Alternatively,  if you do not wish to pursue local resolution you can contact the Trust’s Quality & Safety Assurance Team directly to discuss your feedback.

However, if following discussions with the Practice Manager, you still remain dissatisfied and unhappy, you may wish to consider formally escalating your feedback via our formal complaints process.

To do this, we would ask that you contact the Quality & Safety Assurance Team directly who will aim to try to resolve the issue/s and will support you with raising any informal or formal complaints or you may wish to ask the Practice Manager to expedite this onto ourselves for you.

Timescales – complaints

If it is not possible to raise your complaint immediately, we ask you to let us have details of your complaint within the following timescales:

  • Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem or.
  • Within 12 months from when the complaint comes to your notice.

What happens next:

Dudley Integrated Health & Care NHS Trust will acknowledge your formal complaint within 3 working days, you will be given a unique reference number and throughout the investigation of your complaint you will be kept informed of the process, and associated time scales for completion where possible.

When the Trust investigates your complaint, it will:

  • Ascertain the full circumstances of your complaint.
  • We can make suitable arrangements for you to discuss the problem with those concerned if you would like this.
  • Make sure you receive a detailed explanation to your complaint and apology, where this is appropriate.
  • Identify what the practice can do to make sure the problem does not happen again and learn lessons.
  • Provide an outcome i.e., upheld, not upheld or partially upheld.
  • Commitment to respond to all formal complaints within the National NHS Complaint Handling timescale of 6 months.
  • The Trust will ensure you are not discriminated against, or subjected to any negative effect on your care, treatment, or support.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Dudley Integrated Health & Care NHS Trust keeps strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality.

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, both the practice and Dudley Integrated Health & Care NHS Trust needs to know that you have their permission to do so, as such we will contact the person concerned and seek formal consent.

How to get in touch:

If you would like to give us any feedback you can do so by contacting us via:

You can find further information by visiting the Trust website www.dihc.nhs.uk or if you prefer, you can speak to the Practice Manager.

Making a complaint to the NHS Commissioner

From 1st July 2023 the way you make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner has changed.

If you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner, you will now contact the Black Country Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England.

You can do this by:

  • Telephone 0300 0120 281
  • Email bcicb.time2talk@nhs.net
  • Writing to us at: Time2Talk, NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) Civic Centre, St Peter’s Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SH

If you want to make a complaint directly to the provider of the primary care service, you still can – that does not change on the 1 July 2023.

Please see the Black Country ICB Compliments, concerns and complaints leaflet.

Ongoing complaints

If you have an ongoing complaint placed on or after 1 July 2022, you will receive a letter from NHS England informing you that the Black Country ICB is now handling your complaint, this will include confirmation of your case handler.

Find out more about how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service by visiting the Time2Talk Customer Services page on their website.

Useful contacts

NHS complaints advocacy services (PoHWER)

Complaints Advocacy Services is a national service that supports people who want to make a complaint about their NHS Care or treatment. PoHWER is our local provider, and they can be contacted on 0300 456 2370. Please visit www.pohwer.net/dudley for more information.

Parliamentary health service ombudsman (PHSO)

PHSO Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman – If remain unhappy following receipt of your written complaint response, you can refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman who investigates complaints about the NHS in England. You can call the Ombudsman’s Complaints Helpline on 0345 015 4033 or www.ombudsman.org.uk or Textphone (Minicom) 0300 061 4298.

Contact the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

If you have a genuine concern about a staff member or regulated activity carried out by High Oak Surgery, then you can contact the Care Quality Commission on 03000616161, or alternatively visit the following website: www.cqc.org.uk for more information.