GPAtlasWhat it covers
What counts as a complaint, who can make one, how, to whom and within what time limit, including complaints made for someone else. How to take a complaint at the desk or on the phone, put things right where we can, record it and say sorry safely. What the practice must then do by law, when a complaint also needs safeguarding or incident action, where people can go next, and how complaints become learning.
Who it is for
Everyone in the practice: reception and administration first, then practice managers, healthcare assistants, nurses, pharmacists, GPs, trainees and locums.
By the end you will be able to
- Recognise a complaint, spoken or written, even when the word is never used.
- Know who can complain, how, to whom, and the twelve-month time limit.
- Take a complaint at the desk or on the phone, record it and pass it on.
- Describe the practice's legal steps, from acknowledgement to a signed written response.
- Point people to free NHS complaints advocacy and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
- Spot complaints that also need safeguarding or incident action, and how complaints drive learning.
Modules
- Recognising a complaint
- Taking a complaint well
- After it is passed on
Your practice's own complaints procedure and its named complaints manager apply; this course explains the rules they are built on.
Content mapped to the NHS complaints regulations for England (2009), CQC Regulation 16 and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's NHS Complaint Standards. Law named: The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009.
Sources
- The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/309), contents, latest version
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 2: interpretation (working day)
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 4: responsible person and complaints manager
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 5: persons who may make complaints
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 7: complaints to an integrated care board or NHS England
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 8: complaints not required to be dealt with (oral complaints resolved by the next working day)
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 9: duty to co-operate
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 12: time limit for making a complaint
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 13: procedure before investigation
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 14: investigation and response
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 16: publicity
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 17: monitoring
- 2009 Complaints Regulations, regulation 18: annual reports
- National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015, regulation 79: complaints procedure
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 16: receiving and acting on complaints
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 20: duty of candour
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 22: offences
- Regulation 16: Receiving and acting on complaints, guidance for providers (Care Quality Commission)
- GP mythbuster 103: Complaints management (Care Quality Commission, updated 3 September 2024)
- NHS Complaint Standards (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)
- Model Complaint Handling Procedure for providers of NHS services in England (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, December 2022)
- Good complaint handling guide: Identifying a complaint (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)
- Good complaint handling guide: Who can make a complaint and what consent do you need (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)
- Good complaint handling guide: Early resolution, resolving complaints quickly (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)
- Good complaint handling guide: Managing challenging situations in complaint handling (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)
- Good complaint handling guide: Referring people to the Ombudsman (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)
- Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 9: complaints to the Ombudsman and the time limit
- Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 4: the NHS complaints procedure must normally be used first
- Feedback and complaints about NHS services (NHS England)
- The NHS Constitution for England: complaint and redress (Department of Health and Social Care, updated 17 August 2023)
- Help to make a complaint (Healthwatch England)
- Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, section 223A: independent advocacy services
- Compensation Act 2006, section 2: apologies, offers of treatment or other redress
- Confidentiality: responding to criticism in the media (General Medical Council)
GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.