Complaints & Compliments

If you have an issue you want to raise with us, there are a number of ways of doing so, just choose the one that suits you:

You can contact an Independent Complaints Advocacy Service: South East Essex Advocacy Service (SEAS) on 01702 340566 or by e-mail to [email protected], Voiceability on 0300 303 1660 or by e-mail to [email protected] 

If you are an inpatient and have a concern, the first step is to tell the person in charge of your ward who will try to resolve the concern. If they are not able to resolve your concern satisfactorily, you can contact PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service).

You can contact the PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) by email [email protected] or by telephone 0800 085 7935 between 10:00am and 4:00pm, and we will respond as soon as possible. If we can’t can’t resolve your issue or if you are not satisfied with the response, we will arrange for it to be investigated.

You can email a complaint or comment to [email protected] or telephone the Complaints Department on 01268 407817 between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).

You can speak to any manager at any Trust location and they will try to sort issues out within five days, or in a timescale agreed with you.

You can write to the Chief Executive: Mr Paul Scott, The Lodge, Lodge Approach, Runwell, Wickford, Essex, SS11 7XX.

We welcome your compliments about our staff and services. Please send your compliments to: [email protected]

The Trust receive lots of wonderful compliments each year via our dedicated compliments e-mail address. However, if you would like to nominate a particular member of staff you can do so via our Staff Recognition Award Scheme.

There are a number of ways you can tell us something:

• Fill out surveys.e a number of ways you can tell us something:
• you can call on our PALS freephone number, 0800 0857935 between 10am and 4pm and tell us;
• email us: [email protected].

Whatever way you choose to get in touch, we will give you an acknowledgement within three working days.

A formal complaint investigation will involve a comprehensive review and a written response, and the time this takes will vary according to the complexity of the issues. We will aim to provide a full and timely response to your complaint, and will keep you informed of progress. In line with NHS regulations, if we are unable to respond within 6 months we will write to you to explain the reason for this.

We will offer to discuss:

• Your concerns and what you would like to happen;
• How we will handle the issue and the timescales for doing so – we will agree these with you;
• You will be involved when we look into your issues;
• We will keep you updated in a way you choose (email, letter or telephone);
• Once we have reached conclusions, we will give you an explanation;
• If we have made a mistake, we will give you a full apology and tell you how we will learn from your experience.
• After this, if you remain unhappy you can ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to look into your case. You can call their helpline 0345 0154033, Monday to Friday 08:30 – 17:30. Or visit www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Please note:
If your concerns are in relation to an ongoing situation which requires immediate action or an urgent response, you may wish to raise your concerns instead to our PALS service. PALS will escalate your concerns to the appropriate person, and will follow up to provide you with a rapid resolution.

We hope that you find this process easy to use and helpful. If you are unsure about what to do, please contact us and we can discuss the options. We know that some people will be anxious about speaking up but please be reassured, we will take you seriously and we will give you an explanation. That’s our promise.