I've had a complaint

1. Read our guides to the NHS complaints procedure in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
2. Send an acknowledgement letter to the complainant unless the complaint was made verbally and was resolved within one working day.
3. Review the patient's records and use these to draft a detailed response to each point in the complaint.
4. You may need to discuss the complaint at a practice meeting, especially if it involves several doctors.
5. Send us the complaint, your draft response, the relevant parts of the notes, and any other relevant information. This information should be anonymised. Your organisation’s privacy notice should inform patients of the need to provide information about them and the treatment they have received to insurers or legal advisers.
6. Review the complaint as part of your significant event audit.

For more information, see our guidance and step-by-step support.