Complaint Policy

Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily, often at the time they arise with the person concerned and this may be the approach you try first.

Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily.

In any event, this should be:

  • Within 12 months of the incident,
  • or within 12 months of you discovering the incident, giving as much detail as you can.

If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are unable to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority. See below for more information.

We are able to provide you with a separate complaints form to register your complaint and this includes a third-party authority form to enable a complaint to be made by someone else. You can pick up a form via reception in any of our branch surgeries, or download it below. You can provide your complaint in your own format providing this covers all the necessary aspects.

BVM Complaint form
NHS: How to make a complaint
NHS Complaints guidance

Send your written complaint to:

Bridge View Medical

Southville Surgery

67 Coronation Road

Bristol

BS3 1AS

 

or you can email it to us: Bnssg.bvm.complaints@nhs.net

What happens next

We look to settle complaints as soon as possible.

We will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days, and aim to have looked into the matter within 4 weeks. You may then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet with the person(s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take longer than this we will let you know, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.

When looking into a complaint we attempt to see what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this, and make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you would like to do so.

When the investigations are complete your complaint will be determined and a final response sent to you.

Where your complaint involves more than one organisation (e.g. social services) we will liaise with that organisation so that you receive one coordinated reply. We may need your consent to do this. Where your complaint has been sent initially to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.

The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint and also your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response.

Making a complaint for someone else

We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it.

Please ask at reception for the Complaints Form which contains a suitable authority for the patient to sign to enable the complaint to proceed.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness or accident it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances which prevent this in your covering letter.

Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply.

We may still need to correspond direct with the patient, or may be able to deal direct with the third party, and this depends on the wording of the authority provided.

language barriers

The BVM complaints process is open to all patients. Patients who communicate in English as a second language and non-English speakers can make complaints and receive their responses in a way they understand.

You can also contact the CCG Customer Services who work with a translator service in order to remove barriers and enable all patients to contact them with any feedback and concerns.
 

If you are unhappy with the care provided at Bridge View Medical and you want to make a complaint but need support to do this, or would rather not complain directly to us, there are a few options. The following links will take you to external sites.

We have and will continue to work with our patients via these avenues to ensure that we are doing all that we possibly can to improve our service.

Health watch Bristol PALS-patient advice and liaison service NHS England BSL video: how to make a complaint A video for people with a learning disability Swan Advocacy - Complaint guide

Patient General Feedback

Bridge View Medical is a large practice, caring for over 35,000 patients.

There will be things we do that may not work for everyone, and we need patient feedback to recognise any problems. 
Equally when something goes well we want to know from our patients that it has.

Sometimes you may want to pass feedback on to us, but not necessarily as a complaint. You can do this in a few ways, please click the patient feedback link below for information on how to do this.

Patient feedback

More information about our appointments

Join our Patient Participation Group