Making a Complaint.
We aim to offer an excellent and consistent service to all our service users and their families, professionals, and other agencies, and to our clients and customers.
However, we understand that we may not always get things right and welcome any concerns or complaints as valuable feedback. This helps us to learn from your experiences and make improvements to our services.
Whilst we encourage service users and their families to raise any concerns during their appointment or contact with us, we understand that this may not always be possible or appropriate.
If you are not satisfied with any aspect of the care or experience that you, or someone you are responsible for, has received, please let us know so that we can resolve the matter as soon as possible.
Making a complaint
You can make a complaint up to 12 months after you have attended one of our services, this helps us to best investigate or respond to any issues.
If making a complaint later please let us know what has led to the delay in contacting us.
You can make a formal complaint in writing to complaints@mountainhealthcare.co.uk or by telephone to our Call Centre - 0330 223 0099 and requesting to speak to the complaints team.
You should let us know:
Your full name and contact details, and the details of the patient if you are complaining on their behalf.
If you are complaining on someone’s behalf, we must receive written permission from them before we can share any information with you.
This does not include patients who:
Please include as much information as possible about what happened and when.
If you have any additional needs which we need to consider, please let us know how we can support you.
What happens next?
Once you have contacted us, we will write to you within 3 working days of receiving your complaint to let you know and confirm what the next steps will be. We may ask to contact you for further information, or we may suggest a meeting to discuss your complaint in more detail.
We will investigate the issues raised and aim to respond to you within 28 working days. In some cases, we may need more time to reply. If this happens, we will contact you and let you know.
Please note: There may be times where we will pause an investigation into service user complaints whilst the criminal justice process is still active.
Can I complain to someone else?
If you attended one of our Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) you can also choose to complain to our commissioners directly. You cannot complain to us both at once, in line with NHS complaints processes.
If you were seen within a police custody environment, you may prefer to report your complaint to the relevant police force, who will then contact us as part of their own investigation processes.
Can I get help when making a complaint?
Our teams will support people using our services to understand our complaints processes and make a complaint to our service if they want to. This will not affect the care that you receive.
You can also ask a trusted person to support you, we will need your permission before we can include them in the complaints process.
There are also organisations who can provide you with support or advocacy to make a complaint. If you would like to seek help, you can contact them for advice at any point in the complaints process.
These are:
Review
If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint you can request a review up to 28 days after we have shared it with you.
This means that we will look at the original investigation to make sure that it was reasonable and proportionate in the context of the complaint raised, but we cannot change the outcome.
Once we have completed a review, our complaints process will be concluded. If you would still like to complain about your care, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsmen for support.
You can contact 0345 015 4033 or visit their website by clicking here.
However, we understand that we may not always get things right and welcome any concerns or complaints as valuable feedback. This helps us to learn from your experiences and make improvements to our services.
Whilst we encourage service users and their families to raise any concerns during their appointment or contact with us, we understand that this may not always be possible or appropriate.
If you are not satisfied with any aspect of the care or experience that you, or someone you are responsible for, has received, please let us know so that we can resolve the matter as soon as possible.
Making a complaint
You can make a complaint up to 12 months after you have attended one of our services, this helps us to best investigate or respond to any issues.
If making a complaint later please let us know what has led to the delay in contacting us.
You can make a formal complaint in writing to complaints@mountainhealthcare.co.uk or by telephone to our Call Centre - 0330 223 0099 and requesting to speak to the complaints team.
You should let us know:
Your full name and contact details, and the details of the patient if you are complaining on their behalf.
If you are complaining on someone’s behalf, we must receive written permission from them before we can share any information with you.
This does not include patients who:
- Are under 16 and cannot make informed choices about their care.
- Do not have capacity to make decisions about their care.
- Are now deceased.
Please include as much information as possible about what happened and when.
If you have any additional needs which we need to consider, please let us know how we can support you.
What happens next?
Once you have contacted us, we will write to you within 3 working days of receiving your complaint to let you know and confirm what the next steps will be. We may ask to contact you for further information, or we may suggest a meeting to discuss your complaint in more detail.
We will investigate the issues raised and aim to respond to you within 28 working days. In some cases, we may need more time to reply. If this happens, we will contact you and let you know.
Please note: There may be times where we will pause an investigation into service user complaints whilst the criminal justice process is still active.
Can I complain to someone else?
If you attended one of our Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) you can also choose to complain to our commissioners directly. You cannot complain to us both at once, in line with NHS complaints processes.
If you were seen within a police custody environment, you may prefer to report your complaint to the relevant police force, who will then contact us as part of their own investigation processes.
Can I get help when making a complaint?
Our teams will support people using our services to understand our complaints processes and make a complaint to our service if they want to. This will not affect the care that you receive.
You can also ask a trusted person to support you, we will need your permission before we can include them in the complaints process.
There are also organisations who can provide you with support or advocacy to make a complaint. If you would like to seek help, you can contact them for advice at any point in the complaints process.
These are:
- The NHS complaints advocacy service - Click here to view their website
- Local Advocacy providers - your local council will be able to tell you who this is in your area. Click here to find your local council.
- Your local Healthwatch can also provide information about making a complaint - Click here to find your local Healthwatch
Review
If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint you can request a review up to 28 days after we have shared it with you.
This means that we will look at the original investigation to make sure that it was reasonable and proportionate in the context of the complaint raised, but we cannot change the outcome.
Once we have completed a review, our complaints process will be concluded. If you would still like to complain about your care, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsmen for support.
You can contact 0345 015 4033 or visit their website by clicking here.
