Being Open

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust promotes a culture of being open to provide support to patients, carers, healthcare professionals and managers when things go wrong.  If things go wrong you should expect to be involved with and informed of how your concerns are to be handled.

Raising your concerns

If you, your relatives or carers are worried about any aspect of your treatment or care, where possible ask to speak with the medical and nursing staff involved with your care as soon as your concerns arise.  They want to help you and will try to resolve your concerns immediately.  If you are not happy with their response, you could ask to speak to the Ward/Departmental Manager or Matron.

Making a complaint - Local resolution

If you feel your concerns have not been addressed adequately by local teams you may wish to proceed with involving the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) or making a complaint.

If you are unable to make a complaint a relative, carer or friend can act on your behalf.  We will require your consent to disclose information to someone representing you.

It is important to make the complaint as soon as possible to enable us to deal with any concerns you have by carrying out a thorough investigation.  East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust guarantees to ensure that a patient's current or future treatment will not be adversely affected by a complaint being made.

The formal NHS complaint guidelines suggest that time limits to make a complaint are no longer than twelve months after an event.  These time limits can be waived in exceptional circumstances and even if a complaint if out of time limits, we will consider each case individually.

To find out further information please select the link below or click here.