Complaints & Compliments

We are continually looking to turn out patients’ feedback into real improvements in the services we provide. We use it to focus on the things that matter most to our patients, carers and their families.

We would like to hear from you if you have a suggestion on how we can do things better to improve our patients’ experiences. We’d also like to hear from you if you are pleased with the service you’ve received.

We’ll let the staff involved know and share the good practice across our teams.

• Submit via the Trust’s Feedback Form
• Link to the NHS Friends and Family Test
• Link to the NHS Website (formerly NHS Choices)

Complaints

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and directly with the person concerned. If a problem cannot be resolved in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would ask our patients to let us know as soon as possible – ideally within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable the practice to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do this, patients are advised to let us have details of their complaint:

• Within 12 months of the incident that is the cause of the problem; or
• Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem
• Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of patient medical confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint on behalf of someone else, we have to be assured that the complainant has the patient’s permission to do so. A note signed by the patient concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this. The complaints form template provides a section for the patient to provide their consent in such a case.

To make a complaint, you can:

• Send it in writing to:

Complaints Department
Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
City Hospital
Dudley Road
Birmingham
B18 7QH

• Fill in the complaints form here and send it to the above address.
• Phone: 0121 507 4346, 10am – 4pm, Monday – Friday. (Please leave a message if the line is engaged or if you are calling outside these times)
• Email: swbh.complaints@nhs.net

You should be as specific about your complaint and what you would like us to do to resolve them. Please include the following:

• the patient’s full name, date of birth and if possible, their hospital number;
• your contact telephone number and an email address if you have one;
• what happened and why you are unhappy;
• the name of the staff involved, if known;
• the ward or department concerned; and
• the date and time that the event occurred.

For more information on the process click here.