Sorting out problems with your healthcare | Mencap

Sorting out problems with your healthcare

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There are different things you can do if you are not happy with your hospital care.

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1: Speak up as soon as you can

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Tell the person treating you why you are unhappy and let them know how they could make it better.

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You may not feel comfortable to say anything at the time, and that's OK.

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You can talk to a friend, a family member, or someone else who supports you later.

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2: Ask the hospital to fix the problem.

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If you can't sort the problem out right away, you can speak to the hospital's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (or PALS for short).

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It is the PALS team's job to help patients sort our problems in the hospital.

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They will do this by speaking with the other people who work in the hospital.

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Tell PALS as much as you can, like:

What happened?
When it happened?
Where it happened?
Who was involved?
What you want the hospital to do to make things better?

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You will find a PALS in most hospitals.

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You can check if your hospital has a PALS by looking at the NHS website : www.nhs.uk

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3: Make a complaint

If PALS cannot sort out the problem, or if you still feel unhappy, you could make a complaint.

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Every hospital has a complaints process you need to follow.

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You will need to say:

What happened?
When it happened?
Where it happened?
Who you want to complain about?

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It will help if you can say what the hospital could do to make things better.

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Making a complaint is a good way to be sure that the people who run the hospital know what went wrong.

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If you need support with this, you can ask PALS or the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service to help you.

The NHS Complaints Advocacy Service is not run by the NHS.

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They can help you by:

explaining how to make a complaint.
telling you who you should make your complaint to.
coming with you to any meetings about your complaint.
explaining anything you don't understand.

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You can email them at: nhscomplaints@voiceability.org

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Or phone them on: 0300 330 5454.

4: Tell the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

If you have made a complaint and you do not feel it was sorted out well, you can speak to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman .

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The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman make decisions about complaints which have not been sorted out by the NHS.

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They can only help if:

You have made a complaint and the hospital have given you their answer.

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Or your complaint has not been sorted out after 6 months.

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You can email them at: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk

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Or call them on: 0345 015 4033.

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Or visit their website at: www.ombudsman.org.uk/complainforchange