If something has gone wrong, we want to hear about it. Here’s exactly how to tell us and what happens next.
We take real pride in the care we give, but we’re not perfect and sometimes we get things wrong. When that happens we’d far rather know than not. Complaining will never affect the standard of service you receive from us.
You can raise a concern in whichever way suits you best:
It helps if you can tell us what happened, when it happened, who was involved if you know, and what you’d like us to do about it. But please don’t let missing details stop you getting in touch.
Please raise your concern within 12 months of the event, or within 12 months of realising there was a problem. We’ll still consider complaints outside that window where it’s reasonable and we can still investigate properly.
Many concerns can be sorted out on the spot by the pharmacist. Where that isn’t possible, your complaint is passed to our Superintendent Pharmacist, Jeetender Singh Sahota, who is responsible for handling it.
We will look into what happened, speak to any staff involved, review the relevant records, and give you a clear, honest explanation. If we made a mistake we’ll say so, apologise properly, and tell you what we’re changing so it doesn’t happen again.
Within 3 working days — we acknowledge your complaint and tell you who is dealing with it.
Within 10 working days — we aim to give you a full written response.
If it takes longer — where a complaint is complex we’ll tell you why, and keep you updated at least every 10 working days until it’s resolved.
You can complain for a family member or friend, but because of patient confidentiality we’ll normally need their written consent before we can discuss their care with you. Where the patient lacks capacity to give consent, or has died, we’ll handle things sensitively and explain what we can share.
Where your complaint concerns an NHS service such as dispensing, Pharmacy First or vaccinations, it’s handled under the NHS Complaints Procedure. You can complain to us directly, or instead to the commissioner:
Free, independent help with an NHS complaint is available from POhWER, the NHS Complaints Advocacy service, on 0300 456 2370.
If you’re unhappy with our response, please tell us — it may be that we’ve misunderstood something. Beyond that you can escalate to:
Every complaint and near miss is recorded and reviewed by the Superintendent Pharmacist. We look for patterns rather than individuals to blame, and change our procedures where the same issue comes up more than once. Anonymised learning is shared with the whole team so that a mistake made once isn’t made again.