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Dr Berni Rogers
Dr Shelley Carter
Dr Kate Smeaton
Dr Amanda Betsworth
Dr Lisa Maplesden
Practice Manager Fiona Francis

Complaints and Suggestions

We are always interested to hear any complaints or comments you may have so that we can act on them and improve the service we give. A leaflet outlining our complaints procedure in detail is available from staff and to download below. The complaints procedure should ensure all complaints are dealt with swiftly and fairly and hopefully to the satisfaction of all concerned.

We also welcome suggestions and complimentary comments! Please address these to the Practice Manager.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria and Fiona Francis (Practice Manager) is the complaints manager. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

Click the button to download our Complaints Leaflet:

How to Complain

Our aim at Littledown Surgery is to provide you with a high standard of medical treatment and care. We are keen to learn of any instances where you may feel we have fallen short of our aim. We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details or your complaint within 12 months of an incident happening or of becoming aware of the matter complained about.

The 12 month time limit does not apply if the practice is satisfied that there were good reasons for not making the complaint within that time limit or that despite the delay, it is still possible to investigate matters fairly and effectively.

Complaints made orally and resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction not later than the next working day are not included in these complaints procedures. Written complaints should be addressed to Fiona Franicis, Practice Manager.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, the written consent of the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What We Shall Do:

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days either orally or in writing, and offer to discuss the matter with you. If you do not wish to accept the offer of a discussion, we will decide how to handle the complaint, based on the available information. A letter will be sent to you setting out how the complaint will be investigated and the expected timescales. We will aim to have looked into your complaint within 14-28 days. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

  • find out what happened and what went wrong
  • make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
  • make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
  • identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again
  • advise you of your right to take your complaint to an alternative body (see below)

We will provide a written response as soon as reasonably practicable after completing the investigation.

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. If you remain dissatisfied with the response to the complaint you have the right to complain to an alternative body. (see below.)

Other Organisations

If you wish, you can choose to complain to any of the following organisations rather than to the Practice:

You can also find us at Citizens Advice Bureau Offices across Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth.

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