Complaints
Hastings Therapy Centre seeks to listen and be responsive to clients, members of the public and practitioners have to say, whether complaining about something or simply commenting on the service.
Please click on the links below to view the various steps of making a formal complaint:
Complaints can be made by email to [email protected] or by writing to The Complaints Department, Brighton Therapy Centre, 23A New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UG (Brighton Therapy Centre is the parent organisation of HTC) or by telephone on 01273 626444/01424236799.
When raising your concerns, it will be helpful for you to include the following information:
- your name and contact details
- the background to your complaint
- details of any informal attempts you have already made at resolving the complaint and details of the member of staff with whom you discussed the matter
- why any outcomes of the informal attempts are not satisfactory
- the desired outcome of your complaint
All complaints, both verbal and written, however minor, will be taken seriously and investigated.
Completion of a Complaint Record Form will be instigated once any verbal or written complaint is received.
If the complaint can be resolved immediately, an acknowledgement letter may not be necessary. This decision will be made by the Clinical Director following the conversation with the complainant.
If acknowledgement is requested or considered necessary, the complaint will be acknowledged within five working days by a personal letter sent by email, a copy of which should be sent to the CEO to be kept on file.
This letter will:
- Acknowledge receipt of the complaint.
- Outline the main points of the complaint.
- Give the name and position of the person carrying out the investigation.
- Outline the action and timescale proposed.
- Express understanding, but not express apologies or opinions.
- Be simple, professional and to the point and end on a positive note.
If a complaint cannot be resolved immediately, HTC's complaints procedure will be followed. For detail on this procedure, please get in touch with us via e-mail at [email protected]
Complainants may withdraw their complaint at any stage during the procedure. This does not preclude the right of HTC to conduct a managerial investigation of the matter complained of if this is considered necessary. The withdrawal of a complaint will always be recorded and, wherever possible, confirmed in writing by the complainant.
If your complaint relates to something HTC has or has not done, you should ideally raise your concerns as soon as reasonably possible and no later than 20 working days from when the matter you are complaining about happened. If you have an existing relationship with HTC, for example, you have a contract with HTC to provide therapy services you should initially raise your concerns with the named contact in your contract. However, if you do not have an existing relationship with HTC you may submit a complaint by emailing [email protected] We will discuss your complaint with you and will contact members of staff informally to try to resolve your concerns. In handling your complaint, we will follow the HTC Complaints policy as necessary. For more details on this policy, please contact us via e-mail using [email protected].
It is essential that complainants’ right to confidentiality are respected and maintained at all times.
Anyone dealing with a complaint must treat the information given as confidential and share it only with those who have a direct involvement in, or responsibility for, dealing with the complaint.
We keep strictly to the rules of confidentiality and if a person is complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that that person has their permission to do so. This means we need a letter signed by that person giving their permission. The only exception to this is when that person is incapable of providing such a letter, however in these circumstances the complaint should be discussed initially with the CEO.
Keeping a record of complaints and how they are handled is important for the following reasons:
- To confirm and clarify the details of complaints.
- To show that complaints have been handled in line with this Procedure and good practice.
- To provide information that can be used when changing and developing services.
It is expected that each investigation of a complaint will include the following written information:
- A completed Complaints Record Form.
- Any correspondence between the complainant and the person investigating the complaint - including letters of acknowledgement and resolution.
- Note of interviews with the complainant and anyone else involved. These will be signed by the person being interviewed as a fair record.
- Any background information or evidence such as photocopies from case files or records in the service.
- A list of dates and details of all action, i.e., a chronology of events.
- A copy of the letter of resolution sent to the complainant.
- A Complaint Review Form.
It is intended that the information will be kept as follows:
- Detailed information regarding complaints will be kept by the Clinical Director with a report to the CEO.
- The full complaint file with all the above documentation will be maintained by the CEO in HTC’s complaint files.
- A complaints’ register will be maintained by the CEO.