How to Complain

In the first instance, please discuss your complaint with a member of staff at SDHC. Where the issue cannot be resolved immediately, please ask to speak to the team lead who will try to resolve the issue and offer you further advice on our complaint's procedure. If your problem cannot be resolved and you wish to make a formal complaint, please let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of days. 

When to Complain

If you are unable to raise your complaint immediately, please give the details of your complaint to us within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem, or within 12 months from when the complaint comes to your notice. We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days.

If you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else, please contact us so we can discuss the appropriate course of action. 

Next Steps

We will offer to meet with you to discuss your complaint, agree with you how your complaint will be fully investigated and let you know when this will be completed. When we investigate your complaint, we aim to:

• Establish the full circumstances of your complaint
• Make arrangements for you to discuss the problem with whoever is concerned, if possible
• Offer an apology, where this is appropriate
• Identify what we could do to prevent the problem occurring again

If you are unable to raise your complaint with us or would like external advice about raising a concern or making a complaint, you can contact any of the following organisations:

• Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS)
• Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB)
• NHS England
• Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)
• Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• NHS Complaints Advocacy Service (POhWER)