We would ask that you note we do have to respect our duty of confidentiality to our patients, therefore the patient's written consent must be obtained if a complaint is not made by the patient in person.

We hope that you will feel able to use our in-house complaints procedure to give us the opportunity to investigate, and if necessary put right any mistake or problem you have identified. We will, of course, carry out a full investigation of the matter and will offer you the opportunity to have an informal interview to discuss the complaint, investigations and our findings.

If you do wish to make a complaint please write to the Practice Manager or telephone for an interview to discuss the matter. The Practice Manager will take full details of your complaint and decide how best to undertake the investigation. If you the practice procedure this does not affect your right to complain to the local Primary Care Trust if you still feel that your complaint has not been addressed adequately.

The necessary contact telephone numbers are:

	Practice Manager – 01782 642992
	Stoke on Trent Primary Care Trust – 01782 227700

It is important that we deal with complaints swiftly, so your complaint will be acknowledged within 48 hours, wherever possible, and you will be offered an appointment for a meeting, if you so wish to discuss the matter within 7 days. If there are numerous enquiries to make it may take up to 4 weeks to get back to you with the result, but we will keep you informed. We would hope that at the end of any meeting or investigation you will feel satisfied with that we have dealt with the complaint thoroughly. However, if that is not the case we will direct you to the appropriate authorities who will be able to help you.