get
involved

complaints

& suggestions

We take feedback and complaints very seriously and do our best to use the information to improve the services we provide. You should be treated with courtesy and respect at all times by our staff and making a comment or complaints about services will not prejudice the care that you or your relatives are given.

CONTACT US AT
Feedback and Complaints Manager
E-mail: together.first@nhs.net

To make a complaint you can:

Fill this form

Download this pdf document

Make your complaint as soon as possible, while memories are still fresh. Usually we will only deal with complaints made within 12 months of the event you are complaining about or within 12 months of finding out that you had something to complain about. This time limit may be waived if there are good reasons why you were not able to complain earlier and if it is still possible to carry out an effective investigation.

Your name, address, e-mail (if possible) and telephone number
The full name, address, e-mail (if possible) and telephone number of the patient concerned
If you are not the patient, written permission from the patient for you to take up the complaint on their behalf (a signature on the letter is acceptable)
A summary of what happened with the dates if possible
A list of questions that you would like answered
What you want to happen as a result of your complaint
Permission for us to copy the complaint to the people who need to take part in the investigation

We will investigate your complaint as quickly and effectively as possible. We will acknowledge receipt of your response within three working days of receiving your complaint. We will keep you informed about the process of our investigation. When we have completed our investigation we will let you know our findings and any improvements that have already been made or will be made as a result of your complaint.

We hope that we can resolve your complaint at this stage. If you are not satisfied, contact us and we will discuss with you what else we might be able to do. If you continue to be unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask the Health Service Ombudsman to review your complaint.

seAP (Support, Empower, Advocate, Promote) is an independent charity that specialises in the provision of advocacy and related services. One service they is IHCA (Independent Health Complaints Advocacy). IHCA will provide you with a Self Help Information Pack to help you make a complaint about your care or treatment using the NHS Complaints Procedure. You can choose to make your complaint with, or without, the support of an advocate. Your decision may depend on how confident you feel about starting the complaints process and the complexity of your case.

You can contact IHCA at the address below:

seAp Hastings
PO Box 375
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 9HU

Telephone: 0330 440 9000
E-mail: info@seap.org.uk
Website: http://www.seap.org.uk/

patient

engagement
group (PEG)

Patients - We want to hear from you! Together First are hoping to launch a Patient Engagement Group (PEG) and are requesting for your involvement. For those of you who may not be familiar with the role of the PEG, these are now becoming very popular as they provide valuable feedback on how services are doing. They help identify and prioritise areas for improvement, however, they do not get involved with individual grievances. In an ideal scenario patients on the PEG would be as close to a fair representative of the patient population as possible so that all patients have their needs and opinions considered. In some cases, PEGs take the format of nominating a Chairperson and Secretary to Chair the meeting and record minutes. In other cases, PEGs chose to provide feedback virtually only via email and surveys only and therefore they don't attend meetings. As the Group is run by the patients this is your opportunity to decide how you would like it to be run.

Areas that we would particularly like feedback on is communication, to understand if we are doing this effectively. For example, is information presented in a way that is understood by all or do patients require information presented to them in a different way, such as large print /braille etc. Additionally, patients may have impaired hearing or may not be aware of translation services available to them. It is also important that we ensure patients are aware of how data is used and that system are in place to establish and respect their preferences for sharing information with partners, family members and/or carers. If you want to get involved and share your views, click on the email address below and leave us your contact details and we will get in touch:

Send an email to together.first@nhs.net

get involved

complaints

& suggestions

patient

engagementgroup (PEG)

get
involved

engagement
group (PEG)