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How to raise a concern, compliment or make a complaint

NHS Greater Manchester organises, pays for and monitors local healthcare services for Greater Manchester patients.

We are committed to providing members of the public, our patients and their carers with opportunities to give us feedback, good and bad, about any services we commission and how we commission them.

Feedback is essential to improving services and our strategies have set out our proactive approach to asking for people’s views and using the information we receive to improve the quality of services that we commission.

Alongside feedback from members of the public, our patients and their carers, we also have a formal system for anyone who wishes to make a complaint. Our approach to complaints is structured around the following three principles:

• Listening: taking an active approach to asking for people’s views and experiences, and working in partnership with them.
• Responding: dealing with complaints more effectively by finding out what the complainant wants to happen.
• Improving: using the information we receive to learn and improve services by agreeing a clear plan of action.

What is a complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction or concern about a NHS Greater Manchester staff member, about a service which we commission or about an action, omission or decision of NHS Greater Manchester that requires a response. Complaints may be received in written form byletter or email.

A complaint or concern which is made orally or by email and resolved to your satisfaction by the end of the next working day following receipt of the complaint is outside of the scope of the formal complaints process.

Who can raise a concern, compliment or make a complaint?

A concern, compliment or complaint can be made by any person who has received or is receiving NHS treatment or services, or any person who has been affected by an action, omission or decision of NHS Greater Manchester.

A concern or complaint can also be made by a representative (with appropriate consent) acting on another person’s behalf, if that person:

• Has requested the representative to act on their behalf
• Is a child
• Is unable to make the complaint themselves because of physical incapacity or lack of capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Has died

Timeframe for making a complaint

Formal complaints must be made within 12 months from the date on which a matter occurred or the matter came to the notice of the complainant, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Concerns and complaints about healthcare providers

If you have a concern or complaint about healthcare services provided by one of our commissioned providers, you can find information about how to raise your concerns with them on the following links.

Hospital and Community Services

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust

Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for Altrincham Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Saint Mary’s Hospital, Trafford Hospital, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, Withington Community Hospital, Wythenshawe Hospital and community healthcare services in Manchester and Trafford.

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, Salford Royal Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital and community healthcare services in Bury, Oldham, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale and Salford.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for Stepping Hill Hospital and community healthcare services in Stockport.

Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for Tameside General Hospital and community healthcare services in Tameside.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for specialist cancer care services across Greater Manchester.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Responsible for Leigh Infirmary, Royal Albert Edward Infirmary (Wigan), Thomas Linacre Centre, Wrightington Hospital and community healthcare services in Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh.

Mental health services

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for inpatient and community mental healthcare services in Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Trafford, and Wigan.

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

Responsible for inpatient and community mental healthcare services Bury, Oldham, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside and Glossop,

Ambulance service, 999, NHS 111 and patient transport

North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Primary Care Complaints

If you have a concern, compliment or complaint about care or NHS services provided by your general practice (GP), dentist, pharmacist or optician, you can raise these directly with the provider, usually via the Practice Manager.

Alternatively, contact NHS Greater Manchester’s Patient Services Team who will advise if we can handle your concern or complaint.

Specialised Commissioning

If you have a complaint about a service commissioned by NHS England, please contact:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Telephone: 0300 311 22 33
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line

Find out more about specialised services.

What kind of concerns and complaints can NHS Greater Manchester investigate?

NHS Greater Manchester is specifically responsible for investigating concerns and complaints about actions, omissions or decisions of the integrated cre board (ICB) or of our staff.

If you have a concern or complaint relating to the way an NHS service has been commissioned, or you have been directly affected by a commissioning decision made by us, please contact us directly. You can do this by contacting our Patient Services Team using the following contact details:

Email: nhsgm.patientservices@nhs.net

Telephone: 0161 271 3980

Postal address: NHS Greater Manchester, Patient Services, 4th Floor, 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester M1 3BN

Unsure of who to complain to?

We recognise that the NHS is incredibly complex, and it is not always easy to know where best to send concerns, compliments or complaints. If you are unsure, then do please ask us and we’ll help you to direct your feedback to the right place.

If you require support because English is not your first language, please contact us and we will signpost you to the relevant interpretation service.

Need support with making your complaint?

If you require any help or advice with a complaint you wish to make, independent complaints advocacy is available to all residents of Greater Manchester. Contact details are below for complaints advocacy provider for the area in which you live:

Bolton residents

Voiceability

Telephone: 0300 303 1660

Email: helpline@voiceability.org

Website: https://www.voiceability.org

Postal address: Voiceability, c/o Sayer Vincent, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0TL

Bury residents

n-Compass Advocacy Hub

Telephone: 0300 3030 206

Email: referral@buryadvocacyhub.co.uk

Website: www.buryadvocacyhub.co.uk

Postal address: n-Compass Advocacy Hub, 1 Edward VIII Navigation Way, Ashton-On-Ribble, Preston, PR2 24F

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale residents

Advocacy Together Hub Rochdale

Telephone: 01706 641389

Email: rochdaleadvocacy@together-uk.org

Website: www.together-uk.org/service-finder/advocacy-together-hub-rochdale/

Postal address: Advocacy Together Hub Rochdale, 144 Drake Street, Rochdale, OL16 1PS

Manchester residents

Voiceability

Telephone: 0300 303 1660

Email: helpline@voiceability.org

Website: https://www.voiceability.org

Postal address: Voiceability, c/o Sayer Vincent, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0TL

Oldham residents

Cloverleaf Advocacy

Telephone: 0300 012 4212

Email: NHSComplaints@cloverleaf-advocacy.co.uk

Website: www.cloverleaf-advocacy.co.uk/areas/oldham

Postal address: Cloverleaf Advocacy, 5th Floor, Empire House, Old Wakefield Road, Dewsbury, WF12 8DJ

Salford residents

Mind in Salford

Telephone: 0161 710 1070

Email: Advocacyhub@mindinsalford.org.uk

Postal address: Mind in Salford, The Angel Centre, 1 St Philips Place, Salford, M3 6FA

Stockport residents

Stockport Advocacy

Telephone: 0161 989 0029

Email: nhscas@stockportadvocacy.co.uk

Postal address: Stockport Advocacy, 48 Middle Hillgate, Stockport, SK1 3DL

Tameside residents

Healthwatch Tameside

Telephone: 0161 667 2526

Email: info@healthwatchtameside.co.uk

Postal address: Healthwatch Tameside, 131 Katherine Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 7AW

Trafford residents

Advocacy Focus

Telephone: 0300 323 0965

Email: admin@advocacyfocus.org.uk

Postal address: Advocacy Focus, First Floor, The Old Tannery Eastgate, Accrington, BB5 6PW

Wigan residents

Healthwatch Wigan and Leigh

Telephone: 01942 834 666

Email: Info@healthwatchwiganandleigh.co.uk

Postal address: Healthwatch Wigan and Leigh, Ashland House, Dobson Park Way, Ince In Makerfield, Wigan, WN2 2DX

Healthwatch

You can also leave feedback and share your experience of health and social services in Greater Manchester by contacting your local Healthwatch.

Find out more about Healthwatch.

Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 provides a right of access to a wide range of information held by public authorities, including the NHS.

The Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 provide a right of access to information relating to the environment, which is held by public authorities, including the NHS.

Our duty to you

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 requires us to:

• provide information to you which is held by NHS Greater Manchester
• provide a guide to this information
• respond appropriately to requests for information.

Before you request information from NHS Greater Manchester, please check whether the information you seek is already available. We publish information on this website, and you may find the answer to your question is already here. Our publication scheme explains what information we currently release or expect to release.

If you request information from NHS Greater Manchester that is already published, we will refer you to the published source.

Who can request information?

Anyone, anywhere in the world, can make an FOI or EIR request to NHS Greater Manchester.

What can I request?

You can seek any recorded information that you think NHS Greater Manchester may hold.

You do not have to know whether the information you want is covered by the EIR or the FOI Act. When you make a request, we will decide which law applies. If the information is your own personal data, then you should make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 not an FOI request.  Find out more information about how you can make a Subject Access Request.

How do I request information?

FOI requests must be in writing and can be either posted or emailed to NHS Greater Manchester.

For postal requests, please send to:

NHS Greater Manchester, 4th Floor, 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester, M1 3BN

Send email requests to nhsgm.foi@nhs.net

Please write “Freedom of Information” in the subject line of any FOI request.

EIR requests can also be submitted verbally or in writing, using the methods above.

What information must I include in my request?

The FOI Act requires certain information to be supplied before we can respond to your request:

• Your real name – we do not have to respond to requests submitted under a pseudonym.
• Your address (this could be your email addresses)
• A description of the information you wish to obtain.
• Any preferences for the format in which you wish to receive the information for example electronic or hard copy. We will endeavour to meet your preferences but cannot guarantee that we will be able to.

What you do not need to do

You do not need to:

• explicitly mention the FOI Act or EIR, although it may be helpful
• know whether the information is covered by the FOI Act or the EIR
• say why you want the information
• specify particular documents; you have a right to information, however it is recorded.

How should I word my request?

Comprehensive guidance on submitting requests is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office

Do:

• Clearly identify the information you want. Be clear about date ranges or timescales. If it is not clear what you are requesting, we may need to seek further clarification from you.
• Be as specific as possible. Ask questions such as “what” or “how much” as this is much more likely to result in a useful response.
• Use straightforward, polite language.

Do not:

• Use open-ended questions such as “why”. We do not have to answer your question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded.
• Base your request on assumptions or opinions.
• Mix your request with complaints or comments.

What happens when my request is received?

We have a legal obligation to reply to your FOI or EIR request within 20 working days of receipt. We will do one of the following:

• Supply you with the information you requested.
• Inform you that we don’t hold the information and, if we are able, advise you who does.
• Inform you that we hold the information requested but refuse to provide all or part of it and explain why, citing one or more of the exemptions from the FOI Act or exceptions under EIR where relevant.
• Inform you that we need to extend the 20-working day deadline either to allow us to consider the Public Interest Test for FOI requests or if the request is considered particularly complex for EIR requests.

What can I do if I am unhappy with the response I receive or the way my request was handled?

You can ask us for an internal review of your FOI or EIR request. When you write to us requesting an internal review, we will acknowledge your request and tell you how long the review will take. We aim to complete internal reviews within 20 working days, although cases that are complex may take longer. Where internal reviews go over 20 working days, we will keep you informed of progress.

If, after an internal review, you are still not satisfied you can then complain to the Information Commissioner. For details of how to do this visit the ICO website.

Full details of how to ask NHS Greater Manchester for an internal review will be included in our initial response to your request.

Details of how to complain further to the Information Commissioner will be included in our response to your internal review request.

If after following the NHS complaints process, you remain unhappy, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Before contacting The Care Gateway, check the information on The Care Gateway page for a quick way to get an answer to most queries.

The Care Gateway opening hours are Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00, excluding bank holidays.

You can contact us on:

Tel: 0161 947 0770 or 0800 092 4020

Email: contactus.caregateway@nhs.net

Please listen carefully to the options and select your required service.

For details of how to provide feedback or raise compliments, concerns or complaints please see our Frequently Asked Questions.