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Morlais Health Centres undertakes to help its patients and those important to them to be as well as they can be. Morlais Health Centres is committed to dealing effectively with any concerns or complaints you may have about our services. We aim to clarify any issues you may be unsure about. If we did something wrong, we will apologise and, where possible, try to put things right for you. We aim to learn from our mistakes and use the information we gain from concerns to improve our services.
How to raise a concern
Informal resolution
Whenever possible, it is best to deal with any concerns as soon as possible. If possible, concerns should be raised at the time of dissatisfaction. Often, the Practice team are able to help and resolve many issues straight away. This may involve speaking with another member of the Practice team. If the issue cannot be dealt with at the time, or soon thereafter, the team should advise the complainant of the formal concerns process.
How to express concern or complain formally
Whilst the Practice is happy to accept concerns verbally by telephone, it would prefer to receive concerns in writing as this avoids any possible misunderstandings. There should be an agreed understanding of verbal complaints.
Concerns can be raised in writing by completing a practice complaint form, which can be sent to the person raising the concern by post or online.
Make a complaint to the practice online
Or write to us at:
Morlais Health Centres
Berry Square Health Centre
Dowlais
Merthyr Tydfil
CF48 3AL
Formal concerns can be raised initially to any member of the team who will then inform the appropriate person(s), namely the Practice Manager, Assistant Practice Manager and/or the GP Partner Lead for Complaints and Concerns.
Dealing with your concern
Following receipt, your concern should be formally acknowledged via a formal acknowledgement letter. This letter outlines a brief nature of the concern, a named contact at the Practice whilst your complaint is being investigated, a summary of the process, a timeline along with informing the complainant of independent help available to them from the Community Health Council.
If you are raising the concern on behalf of someone else, we will need their agreement for someone to act on their behalf.
Following acknowledging the complaint, the Practice will then investigate the concern. It will strive to respond to concerns within 30 working days.
Investigation
The investigation may involve as examples, speaking with members of the Practice team, reviewing personal data in the form of medical records.
Outcome
Following the investigation, the findings will be written in a letter or report and shared. If we find that we made a mistake, we will tell you what happened and why. If we find that there was a fault with our processes or the way we do things, we will tell you what it is and how we plan to change things to stop it happening again. If we made a mistake, we will apologise.
The Ombudsman
If we do not successfully resolve your complaint and you are dissatisfied with the Practice response, you may complain to the Ombudsman for Wales. The Ombudsman is an independent organisations and can look into your complaint and help support you. The Ombudsman normally expects you to bring your concerns to our attention first and to give us a chance to put things right.
Contact the Public Service Ombudsman
Learning lessons
We take your concerns and complaints seriously and try and to learn from any mistakes we have made. Our senior management team is made aware of formal complaints and these are discussed with GP Partners during Practice Management meetings. Should it be appropriate, summary, anonymised information about complaints, their outcomes along with any lessons learned are shared with the wider clinical team during quarterly clinical governance meetings. This is the opportunity to share learning and to help avoid similar concerns arising again.
What we expect from you
We understand that the process of raising a concern can be upsetting or distressing. We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood and respected. We also believe that our team have the same rights and expect individuals to be polite. Morlais Health Centres will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour, unreasonable demands or unreasonable persistence.