Compliments & complaints

How to share a staff compliment

If during your care and treatment you have encountered a really good experience and want to pass on thanks to a team or individual, there are a number of ways to do so:

Please visit the 'How did we do?' section of our website and use the 'share a compliment' link to submit this online.
If you are unable to use the digital form, please contact the Patient Experience Team by telephone: 0800 783 5774 (freephone) and they will be happy to pass on your comments.
You can also post a card or letter of thanks to the ward or department involved. Alternative address: Patient Experience Team, Innovation House, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, DL14 6XB

How to make a complaint

If you are unhappy about the care, treatment of service you have received, you have the right to make a complaint, have it investigated and receive a response. We welcome complaints as an opportunity to find out when things are not going so well, giving us an opportunity to learn, improve and enhance the experience of our patients and service users.

Please visit the 'How did we do?' section of our website and use the 'make a complaint' link to submit this online.
If you are unable to use the digital form, please contact the Patient Experience Team by telephone: 0800 783 5774 (freephone) and they will be happy to assist.
If your preference is to write a letter, please address it to: Patient Experience Team, Innovation House, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, DL14 6XB

Frequently asked questions

If you are unable to have your concerns resolved by a ward manager or matron, you have the right to make a formal complaint. You can do so by using the online 'make a complaint' form.

If you are unable to make this complaint digitally you can contact the Patient Experience Team via telephone: 0800 783 5774 (freephone), Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. There is an out of hours voicemail service which will be picked up as soon as possible the next working day.

Yes. A complaint can be made on behalf of another person with their consent and the Patient Experience Team will be able to support you with this. A complaint can also be made by anyone who is affected or likely to be affected by the actions of, or decisions made by, the Trust.

A complaint should be received within one year of the concern becoming apparent, however if received out of these timescales we may investigate if there is a good reason why the complaint could not be made earlier.

No. If you make a complaint, you will not be discriminated against in any way. Any information you give will be treated in confidence and with sensitivity.

Concerns raised locally on a ward or in a department may be held within the patient’s medical record, however complaint issues and outcomes will be held separately to your medical record.

Whilst our Patient Experience Team would be happy to support you making a complaint, we acknowledge that sometimes people may prefer this support to be from outside of the Trust. There are a number of independent organisations and individuals who can offer you support, including:

North East Independent Complaints Advocacy (ICA) – telephone: 0808 802 3000 (freephone)
NHS Advocacy is now provided by North East NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy (ICA), supporting individuals complaining about the NHS in the following local authority areas: Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. This service replaced the previous Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) in 2013 and continues to be delivered by the Carers Federation Ltd, who now have over nineteen years’ experience of supporting people in the North East with NHS complaints. You can find out more by visiting their website:
North East ICA - Carers Federation. The Patient Experience Team can also provide you with a leaflet if you would prefer.

When we receive a new complaint, the Patient Experience Team will:

Acknowledge your complaint within five days by letter or email
Identify an appropriate internal investigating officer
Confirm the investigation officer to you.

The investigation officer will:

Call you within five days to discuss your complaint and identify areas for investigation
Respond to you and look to resolve by discussion during the call, a written response or if more appropriate arrange a local resolution meeting.

Any response you receive will detail lessons learnt and actions we will carry out to improve the service and mitigate the risk of this happening again. We may ask you to work with the Patient Experience Team to produce a patient story to support learning. The team will discuss this option with you if it is appropriate.

If you feel the response is not what you would have expected or if you think we have missed concerns which were important to you, we will welcome an opportunity to discuss this with you further in order that your concerns are fully addressed.

If you are unhappy with how your complaint is dealt with and would like to take the matter further, you can forward your complaint to the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsmen. The Ombudsmen makes final decisions on unresolved complaints about the NHS in England. This is an independent service and is free for everyone to use - you can find out more on their website: Welcome to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

The complaints process is not specifically designed to award compensation, but the Trust does have the discretion to consider one off ex-gratia payments.

If your complaint raises complex clinical issues or there is an inquest, there is a potential for a clinical negligence claim or if your complaint raises regulatory issues, specialist independent advice is available from Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). Their advice is free and you can access their website: AvMA or by calling: 0845 1232352, Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm, or by writing to them: Action against Medical Accidents, Freedman House, Christopher Wren Yard, 117 High Street, Croydon, CR0 1QG

Should your issues be subject to another investigation and the Trust has a legal obligation to share for that purpose, the complaint information may be shared. For further information about how we use, collect, store, share, retain and destroy your information, please see our Privacy Policy at the bottom of every page.