Please tell us if you have had a good or bad experience at the practice by completing the Friends and Family form, or by coming into the Surgery to complete a paper copy.

Patient Feedback For The Month Of March 2024

Those who responded to our ‘Friends and Family’ feedback requests, rated our services as follows:

• 355 said the service was very good
• 57 said the service was good
• 6 said the service was neither good nor poor
• 4 said the service was poor
• 2 said the service was very poor

We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.

However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.

To pursue a complaint please email us at sxicb-wsx.lindfield.reception@nhs.net and the practice manager will deal with your concerns appropriately. 

We shall acknowledge receipt of your comments within three working days and will respond to you with our findings as soon as possible.

Please see our complaints procedure: 

LINDFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

DR KATIE SPENSLEY
DR NEIL SHEPHERD
DR KATIE ARCHIBALD
DR SUSIE SHORT
DR SIAN WATKINS
DR GEMMA SCHOFIELD
DR SIMON TOLMIE

The Medical Centre, High Street, Lindfield, West Sussex RH16 2HX

Telephone 01444 484056

Practice Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meet national criteria.

How To Complain 

We welcome constructive comments, suggestions and complaints. We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned or by speaking to your own doctor or any of the partners immediately. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. You can complain

• within twelve months of the incident that caused the problem ,or 
• within twelve months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within twelve months of the incident 

It will obviously make investigations more difficult and any problems harder to solve the longer you leave the complaint.

Complaints should be addressed to the practice manager or any of the partners. They will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

What We Shall Do 

We shall acknowledge receipt of your comments within three working days and will then look into your complaint, liaise with those involved, and look at what happened to cause your dissatisfaction. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to: 

• find out what happened and what went wrong 
• if necessary, make it possible for you to discuss the problem with the management team or a clinician, if you would like this 
• take appropriate action 
• identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

Complaining On Behalf of Someone Else 

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What Cannot Be Dealt With 

There are some things which cannot be dealt with under our complaints system. 

• complaints about private treatment
• complaints about Local Authority Social Services
• events requiring investigations by a professional disciplinary body
• events about which you are already taking legal action

If You Are Not Satisfied With The Outcome Of Your Complaint 

We hope that, if you have a problem you will use our practice procedures. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However, this does not affect your right to approach Sussex Integrated Care Board if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigations. In this instance you should contact:

Sussex ICB
NHS Sussex
Wicker House
High Street
Worthing BN11 1DJ

sxicb.contactus@nhs.net

You can also contact: 

Healthwatch West Sussex
Tel: 0300 012 0122
Email: helpdesk@healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk

or

The Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman
Tel: 0345 015 4033