The Cerne Abbas Surgery
Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint or concern about the
service you have received from the Doctors or
any of the staff working at this Practice, please let
us know. We operate a practice complaints
procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing
with complaints. Our complaints system meets
national criteria.
How to Complain
We hope that most problems can be sorted out
easily and quickly, often at the time they arise,
and with the person concerned. If your problem
cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to
make a complaint, we would like you to let us
know as soon as possible – ideally within a
matter of days or, at most, a few weeks – because
this will enable us to establish what happened
more easily. In any event this should be:
 within 12 months of the incident that caused
the problem, or
 within 12 months of you discovering that you
have a problem giving us as much detail as
you can
What We Shall Do
circumstances which prevent this is your letter.
Our procedure is to acknowledge your
complaint within three working days, and we
aim to have looked into your complaint within
ten working days of the date you raised it with
us. We should then be in a position to offer
you an explanation, or a meeting with the
person/people involved. When we look into
your complaint, we shall aim to:
We hope that if you have a problem you will use
our practice complaints procedure.
 find out what happened and what went
wrong;
 make it possible for you to discuss the
problem with those concerned, if you
would like this;
 make sure you receive an apology, where
this is appropriate;
 identify what we can do to make sure the
problem does not happen again.
If investigation of the complaint requires
disclosure of information from your medical
record to a person who is not a doctor, deputy
or employee at Cerne Abbas Surgery, we will
inform you and ask for your written consent
for this to happen.
Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else
Complaints should be addressed to The Practice
Manager and you may ask for an appointment
with her in order to discuss your concerns. She
will explain the complaints procedure to you and
will make sure that your concerns are dealt with
promptly.
Please be assured that any complaint you make
will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.
You are unable to complain about someone else’s
treatment without their written authority.
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Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of
medical confidentiality. If you wish to make a
complaint and are not the patient involved, we
will require the written consent of the patient
to confirm that they are unhappy with their
treatment and that we can deal with someone
else about it. Where the patient is incapable of
providing consent due to illness or accident it
may be possible to deal with the complaint.
Please provide the precise details of the
We believe this will give us the best chance of
putting right whatever has gone wrong and give
us an opportunity to improve our practice. This
does not affect your right to approach NHS
Dorset Advocacy The Practice may also seek
guidance from Dorset Advocacy regarding any
complex complaint received and work jointly
with them to resolve your concerns.
If you feel you cannot raise your complaint
directly with us you may contact Dorset
Advocacy and refer your complaint to:
Dorset Advocacy
13-15 Jubilee Court
Paceycombe Way
Poundbury
DT1 3AE
0300 343 7000
enquiries@dorsetadvocacy.co.uk
Website: www.dorsetadvocacy.co.uk
If, after full enquiries, you are not happy with the
result, you may contact the Ombudsman:
The Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudman
Milbank Tower
Milbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 0154033
Website: www.ombudman.org.uk
(You will need to do this within 6 months of the
date of our response to you.)
CERNE ABBAS SURGERY
51 Long Street, Cerne Abbas
Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 7JG
01300 341666
www.cerneabbassurgery.co.uk
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
This leaflet explains our complaints
procedure and how to make a
complaint.
Our Complaints Manager is:
Mrs Lynne Dolder
The Practice Manager
You may contact her by letter or
telephone with any complaint,
suggestion or comment.
If Mrs Dolder is not available, please
leave your name and address and she
will get back to you as soon as
possible.
Please be assured that any complaints
you make will be treated with the
utmost confidentiality.
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