Introduction

Healing Young Minds prides itself on providing service users with quality care and treatment. However, there may be occasions when an individual’s expectations are not met. If you are dissatisfied with the service that you, a close relative or friend, has received from Healing Young Minds, you have the right to report and have your concerns investigated. Our aim is to deal with your concerns sensitively and to provide an appropriate response and a fair resolution for all complaints.

This guide outlines the complaint process and provides you with some advice about how to achieve a satisfactory resolution to your concerns if you are thinking of making a complaint about your care or the care of another person at Healing Young Minds.

How to Start

Healing Young Minds complaints process has three progressive stages:

• Stage 1 – Local resolution
• Stage 2 – Internal review
• Stage 3 – Independent external review/adjudication

At Stage 1, it is the responsibility of an appropriately experienced manager to respond to all of your concerns. Our aim is to resolve any problems as quickly and informally as possible. In some cases, for example, a discussion with an appropriate member of staff is all that is required to put things right.

If you address your concerns to a member of staff, it is a good idea to make a note of when you did this, who you spoke to and how the matter was dealt with. It is also useful to have a record of this should you need to take the matter further at a later stage.

If you do not wish to speak to a member of staff, or if you are unhappy with the way in which they have dealt with your earlier concerns, you can take your complaint directly to the manager of the service.

You can make your complaint either verbally or in writing (including via email).

Is there a time limit for making a complaint?

Complaints should normally be made as soon as possible and within 12 months of the date of the event complained about, or as soon as the matter first came to the attention of the complainant. The time limit can sometimes be extended (as long as it is still possible to investigate the complaint). An extension might be possible, such as in situations where it would have been difficult to have complained earlier, for example, when someone was grieving or unwell.

The three progressive stages

Stage 1 – Local resolution

There are clear time frames within which Priory operates. The service manager will send you a written acknowledgement within three working days of receipt of your complaint advising you on who will be investigating your complaint, when you can expect to receive a response and offering a meeting to discuss your concerns if this would be helpful.

You will generally receive a full, written response within 20 working days of receipt of your complaint. However, it can occasionally take longer than this to carry out a full and thorough investigation, particularly if your complaint is very complex. In such cases, the service manager will let you know the reason for any delay and tell you when they anticipate being able to respond by issuing a holding letter every 20 working days until a conclusion is reached.

Whilst investigating your complaint the service manager may need to ring you to talk about aspects of your concerns or to extend an offer to meet with you if you have not previously met as part of the process. They may also suggest using mediation (which means involving an independent third party) to try to resolve the matter.

Before agreeing to attend a meeting, it is a good idea to discuss arrangements for the meeting with the service manager and to give your views on how you would like it to be conducted:

• Ask what form the meeting will take so that you are well prepared
• Ask who will be at the meeting and who will lead it
• Say who you would like to be there on your behalf. If there is someone you do not want to see, let the service manager know (for example, some people may not wish to meet the person who they are complaining about, whereas others may feel it is important for them to be present)
• Ask where the meeting will be held and how long it will last. If you have views on this, make them known
• If you have particular questions, you would like answered, tell the service manager in advance so that they can seek out the information or make sure that the right staff are at the meeting. It is also a good idea to bring a copy of your questions to the meeting so you can remember what they are
• Confirm that notes will be taken at the meeting and request that a copy of these be sent to you. Also make your own notes as it is all too easy to forget what has actually been said

After the meeting, the service manager will investigate any new issues arising from the meeting and arrangements will be made to send you a full written response concerning all aspects of the investigation, including any remedial action to be taken to improve the quality of the services that we provide together with details of what to do next should you remain dissatisfied with the response.

Whilst you will normally be expected to complete each stage of the complaint process before proceeding to the next stage, should you believe that the local investigation of your complaint is not being conducted properly (for example, it is taking an unreasonably long time) you may request that your case be considered for an internal review.

Stage 2 – Internal Review

If you remain dissatisfied following the final Stage 1 response, then you may be able to request a review of your complaint, known as Stage 2 by writing to:

Complaint Manager
The Independent Doctors Federation
Lettsom House
11 Chandos Street
Marylebone
London 
W1G 9EB

The IDF Complaint Resolution Procedure will consider your complaint. The IDF Complaint Manager will send you an acknowledgement of your letter within three working days of receipt of your complaint and will request a summary of the matters that remain outstanding that you wish to be investigated. You will be invited to attend a meeting at the start of Stage 2 in order to clarify the matters that remain outstanding and obtain a greater understanding of what you hope to achieve by escalating the complaint. The IDF Complaint Manager will not have been involved in the matters that led to the complaint or the handling of the complaint at Stage 1. You will be asked to consent to release of records from the doctor. The IDF Complaint Manager will undertake a review of the documentation, any correspondence and the handling of and response to the complaint at Stage 1.

If the review is still in progress after 20 days a letter will be sent to you explaining the delay and a full response made within five days of reaching a conclusion. In any event a holding letter will be sent every 20 days where a review is continuing. The IDF Complaint Manager will write to you when the review is completed to either confirm the outcome at Stage 1 or to offer an alternative resolution

At this time the IDF will advise you of your right to take the matter further to Stage 3 Independent External Adjudication by the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISACS).

Throughout the process all information, documents and records relevant to your complaint will be treated in the strictest confidence and no information will be divulged to any parties who are not involved in the IDF Complaint Resolution Procedure, unless required to do so by law.

Stage 3 – Independent External Review/Adjudication

This stage is only available to you if you remain dissatisfied once Stage 1 and Stage 2 are exhausted and aims to bring about a final resolution of the complaint to both parties.

In such a situation you should request the adjudication by writing to the Secretariat:

Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS)
CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution), 3rd Floor
100 St. Paul’s Churchyard
London
EC4M 8BU
Tel: 020 7536 6091
Email: info@iscas.org.uk

This written request for adjudication must be made within six months of the final determination by the IDF at Stage 2. You should provide reasons to explain the dissatisfaction with the outcome of Stage 2. ISCAS will acknowledge receipt of the request within three working days.

ISCAS will seek confirmation from the IDF that Stage 2 has been completed.

ISCAS will notify the IDF of a request for Stage 3 independent external adjudication. The IDF will respond to requests from ISCAS within ten working days and confirm whether Stages 1 and 2 have been completed. ISCAS will then be your main contact once adjudication is started. You will be asked to consent to the release of records from the doctor and the IDF relevant to the complaint. ISCAS will issue the decision within 20 working days or provide a progress update every 20 working days if the decision is delayed. A report will be made to you, the doctor concerned and the IDF.

For any enquiries, please reach out to us on our contact form, by email, or by phone.

Additional information for patients about ISCAS can be found at: https://iscas.cedr.com/
Additional information for patients about the IDF can be found at: IDF – https://www.idf.uk.net