Our legal guide to making an NHS complaint about the standard of care you have received from a UK hospital.
Patients can make an NHS complaint if they are unhappy with the standard of care they have received from a hospital. Complaints are commonly made about delays, inadequate treatment, cancellations lack of care, and poor hygiene.
Making the complaint
When making an NHS complaint, the first thing to consider is to whom it should be directed.
Most people use the NHS’s own complaints procedure. There is a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) in most hospitals, and they will usually try to resolve the issue before a formal complaint is made. Where your care was in an NHS funded private hospital, you can make a complaint to that hospital, or the Clinical Commissioning Group. You can also report your concerns to the appropriate regulatory body of any healthcare professional who is directly at fault.
Alternatively you can make a report to the Care Quality Commission, the Clinical Commissioning Group (the body responsible for buying and commissioning hospital services), Healthwatch, or through the NHS Choices website.
What is your objective?
Think about what you want to achieve by making an NHS complaint. Perhaps you are motivated by the desire to receive a better service or you wish to improve the service for the benefit of future patients. Some people simply seek an explanation of why they were let down, or an apology. Others may want to pursue a claim for compensation
Time limits on making a complaint
It is important not to delay in making a complaint. Generally speaking complaints should be made within one year of the event which gave rise to it.
The time limit will only be extended if it is still possible to carry out a fair investigation, or there is some other compelling reason.
Should you be making a legal claim rather than pursuing a complaint?
Some issues, such as standards of cleanliness, concerns about waiting lists, and poor communication, are very well suited to the NHS complaints procedure. However, if your health has been seriously affected by a medical error then you may wish to seek legal advice from a member of our medical negligence team.
It is only by bringing a legal claim that you can recover compensation for your injuries and the financial impact it has had on your life, including things like lost earnings and the cost of medical treatment.
As with making a complaint, time limits apply so it is important that you do not delay.
Funding
While it isn’t usually cost-effective to pay a solicitor to deal with your complaint, where it is likely that a legal claim may subsequently be brought, our medical negligence team will be happy to offer you informal guidance on a free of charge basis through our popular legal helpline.
Where a formal medical negligence claim is pursued we offer No Win, No Fee funding. This means that you do not have to find the money to fund your claim upfront, and you won’t have to pay the legal fees if you don’t win your case.
Free legal helpline
If you are thinking about making a medical negligence claim or need guidance on making an NHS complaint that may lead to a legal claim being made, then you can contact our free helpline by calling 0808 139 1594 or sending us an email with details of your case.