It was all going so well until…
We always aim to go above and beyond to deliver personalised health and wellbeing services in a friendly and compassionate way. Whilst we always try our best, we realise that sometimes we don’t always get things right. So, if you have concerns, suggestions or feedback about any of our pharmacies we’d love to hear them. We want to provide the best service possible, so we’ll take time to understand your feedback and use it constructively to improve our service.
It’s important that we always try to meet your immediate health needs and take any urgent action that may be needed before trying to resolve your complaint. This may mean contacting another healthcare professional like your GP.
We treat all complaints with dignity and respect. We’ll only discuss confidential information if it’s needed to resolve your complaint and never with a third party, unless they have your permission.
We will ensure that:
If your complaint is about an NHS service, for example dispensing your NHS prescription, you may find the following information useful
Complaints about NHS services which are not resolved to your satisfaction within the next working day may require further information. If your complaint is about one of our
Pharmacies within:
Your complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days and an acceptable response period must be agreed with you. Your complaint will be dealt with in a timely manner. Usually this will be within 20 working days and no more than 40.
In line with “Putting Things Right” your complaint will be acknowledged within 2 working days and we’ll send you a final reply within 30 days of receiving your complaint. If we can’t reply within that time we will give you the reason why and let you know when you can expect the reply
Your complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days and a full response will be sent to you within 10 working days
Working days under these regulations means Monday – Friday and excludes Bank Holidays. The acknowledgement may be over the phone by email or by letter. Investigations, if necessary, are normally conducted by a Regional Manager and are overseen by the Pharmacy Superintendent’s Team. We will retain records of all complaints and produce reports so that we can learn from feedback and work to improve the service we offer.
We’ll always offer an apology, if appropriate, and aim to give you a full explanation to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.
If you are not satisfied with the way we handled your complaint, you can escalate your complaint to the local Primary Care Organisation or the Ombudsman
Complaints Manager: Wendy Lee MRPharmS, Professional Standards and Governance Manager
Responsible Person: Ifti Khan MRPharmS, Pharmacy Superintendent
We’ll always offer an apology, if appropriate, and aim to give you a full explanation to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.
If you are not satisfied with the way we handled your complaint, you can escalate your complaint to the local Primary Care Organisation or the Ombudsman.
Each health board has their own concerns team. To find their details go to the Health in Wales website or call NHS Direct Wales on 0845467.
Complaints Manager: Wendy Lee MRPharmS, Standards and Service Business Partner
Responsible Person: Ifti Khan MRPharmS, Pharmacy Superintendent
In partnership with NHS Scotland
Our complaints procedure has two stages:
Stage One – Early, local resolution
We aim to resolve complaints quickly and close to where we provided the service. Where appropriate, this could mean an on the spot apology and explanation if something has gone wrong, and immediate action to resolve the problem.
Sometimes we will have to make some enquires before we can respond to your complaint. We will give you our decision at Stage One within 5 working days, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
If we cannot resolve your complaint at this stage we will explain why and tell you what you can do next. We may suggest you take your complaint to Stage Two. You can choose to do this immediately or after you get our initial decision.
Stage Two – Investigation
Stage Two deals with two types of complaint: those that have not been resolved at Stage One and those which are complex and require detailed investigation.
When using Stage Two we will:
We will tell you if our investigation will take longer than 20 working days and agree a revised timeframe with you. We will keep you updated on progress throughout.
What if I am still dissatisfied?
If you are still dissatisfied with our decision or how we have dealt with your complaint when you have received our full response you can escalate your complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).
You can contact the SPSO:
Please ask a member of our pharmacy team for a copy of our Complaints Handling Procedure for more information.
Working days under these regulations means Monday – Friday and excludes Bank Holidays. The acknowledgement may be over the phone by email or by letter. Investigations, if necessary, are normally conducted by a Regional Manager and are overseen by the Pharmacy Superintendent’s Team.
We will retain records of all complaints and produce reports so that we can learn from feedback and work to improve the service we offer.
Complaints Manager: Wendy Lee MRPharmS, Standards and Service Business Partner
Responsible Person: Ifti Khan MRPharmS, Pharmacy Superintendent