Tell us about your experience
If you have received a particularly good service from any health service provider, or you have any comments or suggestions to make, please let us know.
Compliments
Positive feedback is welcomed and helps us to understand what is important for you as a patient, carer or relative. Your feedback is valuable, and we are grateful for you taking the time. Please send any compliments to kmicb.complaints@nhs.net.
Complaints
NHS Kent and Medway is committed to responding to patient needs and encouraging a culture that seeks and uses people’s experiences of care to improve the commissioning of services.
We welcome your suggestions and feedback about both the services we commission and those we provide. We want to resolve any problems you may experience to help make local healthcare services more effective.
Our promise – What you can expect from us
We care – We will treat you with compassion.
We will act – Ensuring your feedback gets to the right place.
We will keep you updated – We will confirm how your complaint will be taken forward and advise any delays.
We will reflect – Striving to improve your experience and our process, through feedback, improvements, and innovation.
We are in the process of reviewing our current complaints policy, which is available at NHS Kent and Medway Complaints Handling Policy. We welcome your feedback and would like to know what you would expect from a complaints process and how we can improve by emailing kmicb.complaints@nhs.net.
If you would like any of this information in a different format, please let us know. You can also read our accessibility statement.
A formal complaint about any aspect of care is best made direct to the provider of that care. If you have any concerns about the service that you have received from a healthcare provider (such as at a GP practice or hospital) you can raise your concerns directly with the provider.
Contact details for our main providers are given below. Please visit their websites to find out more about their complaint’s procedures.
For concerns or complaints regarding:
- conduct of NHS Kent and Medway staff.
- services NHS Kent and Medway provides (e.g. continuing healthcare, medicines management and individual funding requests).
- services commissioned (arranged and contracted) by NHS Kent and Medway.
If you are unsure what to do or who to contact, please get in touch with the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALs) and Complaints Team at NHS Kent and Medway, who will be able to guide you, using the details below:
Email: kmicb.complaints@nhs.net
Phone: 01634 335095 - Option 7 (Office Hours are between 8am – 4pm)
Post: NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board
PALs and Complaints Team
2nd Floor
Gail House
Lower Stone Street
Maidstone
Kent ME15 6NB
In your correspondence, please could you ensure you have included your:
- full name
- postal address, email address and daytime telephone number
- the patient’s full name, date of birth and NHS number (if known), if you are complaining on behalf of someone else
- the patient’s consent for you to act on their behalf if you are making the complaint for them
- the patient’s GP practice.
Please include as much detail in your complaint as possible, such as names of staff, locations, dates, and times of events, if you are able to. If you have specific questions you want answers to, it is helpful for you to list them.
Telling us what outcome you are seeking will help us resolve your concerns to your satisfaction, wherever possible.
We also ask you confirm you are happy for us to forward your concerns to the service that you are complaining about (if appropriate).
Please make your complaint as soon as possible, while memories are still fresh. You should normally complain within 12 months of the event(s) concerned or within 12 months of becoming aware that you have something to complain about. NHS organisations have discretion to waive this time limit if there are good reasons why you could not complain earlier, and an effective investigation can still be undertaken.
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will advise on how your complaint is going to be investigated. This process may involve:
- Corresponding, speaking or meeting with you, where appropriate, to gain your personal view of the issues you have raised.
- Sharing your details with an outside organisation, such as other NHS providers of care or relevant organisations, with your permission. We will respect your right to confidentiality and treat any information you provide in strict confidence, handling this information in a safe and secure manner. However, there may be times when we need to share information without your consent, for example, to protect children and vulnerable adults.
- Using your information for investigation of your complaint. In order for NHS Kent and Medway to make improvements to the services you receive, anonymous information about your complaint may be shared as part of our reporting process. If identifiable data is needed for other purposes, then your consent will be sought.
- NHS Complaints Standards require complaint investigations to be completed within six months and NHS Kent and Medway will respond within 30-40 working days when possible. We will let you know if there is going to be a delay and explain the reasons why, wherever possible.
- Once the investigation has been completed, you will receive our response, including any improvements that have been, or will be made, as a result of your complaint.
- If you are unhappy with the response to your complaint, you should contact the PALs and Complaints Team to see if NHS Kent and Medway can look into the case further, unless the response advises that local resolution of your complaint is concluded.
- You can withdraw your complaint at any stage of the process.
- Please be assured that your future care and treatment will not be negatively affected in any way because you have made your concerns known to us.
Complaints about primary care (GP, dental, pharmacy and optometry services) within Kent and Medway are best made direct to the practice, as they hold your medical records and employ the staff directly.
Alternatively, if you do not want to contact the practice directly, your complaint can be made to the South East Complaints Hub, via the contact details below:
Email: frimleyicb.southeastcomplaints@nhs.net
Phone: 0300 561 0290
Post: South East Complaints Hub
NHS Frimley ICB
King Edward VII Hospital
St Leonard’s Road
Windsor
SL4 3DP
If your complaint relates to hospital care, you will need to contact the hospital directly. All local hospitals have their own complaints procedures and, in most cases, a Patient Advice and Liaison Service.
They can help you with any problems that have arisen and can help with any complaints relating to their services.
Details of hospital trusts most commonly attended by patients in Kent and Medway, and their contact details, are provided below.
Website: East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (ekhuft.nhs.uk)
Email: ekh-tr.pals@nhs.net
Phone: 01227 783145 or 01227 864314
Post: East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
Patient Experience Team
Kent and Canterbury Hospital
Ethelbert Road
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 3NG
Website: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Email: mtw-tr.complaints@nhs.net or mtw-tr.palsoffice@nhs.net
Phone: 01622 226406
Post: Complaints Office
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Maidstone Hospital
Hermitage Lane
Maidstone
Kent
ME16 9QQ
Website: Medway Foundation Trust
Email: medwayft.complaints@nhs.net
Phone: 01634 825216
Post:
Complaints Department
Medway Maritime Hospital
Windmill Road
Gillingham
Kent
ME7 5NY
Website: Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Email: dgn-tr.PALS@nhs.net or dgn-tr.complaints-dvh@nhs.net
Phone: 01322 428382 or 01322 428436
Post
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Darent Valley Hospital
Darenth Wood Road
Dartford
Kent
DA2 8DA
South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb)
Website: South East Coast Ambulance Service
Email: pet@secamb.nhs.uk
Phone: 0300 1239 242
Post:
Patient Experience Team
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Nexus House
4 Gatwick Road
Crawley
RH10 9BG
South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb)
Email: pet@secamb.nhs.uk
Phone: 0300 1239 242
Post:
Patient Experience Team
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Nexus House
4 Gatwick Road
Crawley RH10 9BG
G4S
Website: G4S Patient Transport Service
Email: km.pts1@nhs.net
Phone: 0800 096 0211
Post:
G4S Patient Transport Services
Unit 69 and 87
Waterhouse Business Park
2 Cromar Way
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 2QE
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) (Adult Mental Health Services)
Website: Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
Email: kmpt.pals.kmpt@nhs.net
Phone: Medway and west Kent - 0800 587 6757 or east Kent - 0800 783 9972
Post:
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
Complaints Department
Eastern and Coastal Area
Littlebourne Road
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 1AZ
Website: NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
Email: nelftpals@nelft.nhs.uk
Phone: 0300 300 1711
Post:
North East London NHS Foundation Trust
PALs and Liaison Service
The West Wing
CEME Centre
Marsh Way
Rainham
RM13 8GQ
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT)
(Community nursing and therapy services in Kent)
Website: NHS | Kent Community Health
Email: kentchft.PALS@nhs.net or kcht.complaints@nhs.net
Phone: 0800 030 4550
Post:
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Trinity House
110-120 Upper Pemberton
Ashford
Kent
TN25 4AZ
Community nursing and therapy services in Medway.
Website: Medway Community Healthcare
Email: MEDCH.customercare@nhs.net
Phone: 0300 123 3444
Post:
Customer Care Team
MCH House
Bailey Drive
Gillingham
Kent
ME8 0PZ
For information and comments about services commissioned directly by NHS England, please visit the NHS England Website.
Whilst not exhaustive, the following is a list of services that NHS England central complaints team cover.
- specialised commissioning
- health and justice – for health services for people in prisons and other custodial settings
- armed forces health
- section 7a (public health immunisations and vaccinations)
- PCSE
- Services delivered nationally by NHSE to patients/public (such as screening call and recall, NHS App etc).
Complaints advocacy
Making a complaint is not always easy to do. If you need independent advice or support, you can contact the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy Service. In Kent and Medway, this is The Advocacy People.
The Advocacy People are a free complaints advocacy service available for you to use. The Advocacy People can represent your views when you are making a complaint about the NHS. They can help you write your complaint letter or write it on your behalf. They can accompany you to any meetings to discuss your complaint and provide support or provide an interpreter. The Advocacy People can help if you have difficulties with reading or writing.
The Advocacy People can be contacted via:
Website: The Advocacy People
Email: info@theadvocacypeople.org.uk
Phone: 0330 440 9000
Post:
The Advocacy People
PO Box 375
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 9HU
Healthwatch has been set up to give people a powerful voice locally and nationally. At a local level, Healthwatch is there to help people who live in the county get the best out of their local health and social care services, whether it is improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow. The contact details for Healthwatch within Kent and Medway are:
Website: Healthwatch Kent
Email: info@healthwatchkent.co.uk
Phone: Freephone 0808 801 0102 between the hours of 10am and 4pm Monday to Wednesday and Friday. They are closed Thursdays, weekends and bank holidays.
Post:
FREEPOST RTLG-UBZB-JUZA Healthwatch Kent
Seabrooke House
Church Rd
Ashford
Kent
TN23 1RD
(please note that Freepost can take up to 10 days to arrive with them)
You have the right to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The ombudsman is independent of the NHS, and will decide if they are able to investigate your complaint.
The ombudsman will normally only take on a complaint after you have first tried to resolve the complaint with the organisation involved and have received a response from them.
You can contact the PHSO using the following methods:
Website: Parliamentary Ombudsman
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Phone: 0345 015 4033 – open 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday (charged at a local rate)
Textphone (Minicom): 0300 061 4298
Call back service: 07624 813 005
Post: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HQ