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Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)comments, compliments, & complaints

Experiencing difficulties

with our services?

How to get in touch with our services 2

Our aim is to always provide excellent care, but things do occasionally go wrong. Your comments, compliments and complaints help us to understand your experience of our services, and identify where changes or improvements are needed.

If you have not had a satisfactory experience of using our services, we want to make it easy for you to talk to us so that we can try to put things right as quickly as possible. When you get in touch, we will explain clearly what you can expect us to do.

Experiencing difficulties with our services?

Please contact the person you know from the service you are using and tell them what the problem is. They can usually address any concerns you have quickly. If you would prefer not to talk to that person, you may choose to contact:

• The manager of that service

• The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

• Your local Healthwatch

• Your local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

The PALS team can provide information and work with you to solve any problems you are having accessing or using health services. This service is open to everyone.

• I want to know how to access a service

• I am unhappy with a staff member I am working with

• I am having trouble getting the right information

• I wish to make a complaint

PALS listen and work with you to find the best solution to your problem. We are separate from the care teams and services that the Trust runs and so can be impartial. PALS works closely with Social Services and voluntary sector organisations. If we cannot answer your questions or resolve your concern we will know someone who can. PALS at Sussex Partnership can also put you in touch with PALS in other NHS organisations.

We recognise that making a complaint can be daunting. PALS can help support you through the process, or help you find an advocate independent of Sussex Partnership.

www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk 3


What sort of help can PALS offer?

Talking to us

Any matter that cannot be resolved will be dealt with in line with our complaints procedure. A Complaints and PALS officer will contact you to agree the issues, explain how they will be investigated and how long this will take to do.

The member of staff who has been asked to look into your complaint will speak to all those involved. Where necessary, another colleague not connected to the service could be asked to conduct a review, and in exceptional cases, a colleague from outside the Trust could also be involved. In more complex cases, the case manager will become involved and they will keep you informed on how the investigation is progressing.

Once this process is complete we will let you know what we find and describe any action we plan to take as a result. This could be done either verbally, in writing, or in a meeting, depending on which method you prefer and the nature of the issues that you have raised. If this helps to address your concerns, we will agree that your complaint is resolved.

However, if you remain unhappy following the outcome of our investigation, you can ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (see contacts list on page 6) to review your complaint and how we have handled it. This is the second and final stage of the NHS complaints procedure.

Sussex Partnership wants everyone who uses its services to be able to share their comments, compliments and complaints with ease and confidence.To ensure this, we need to collect

Answering your complaint


and monitor information on the backgrounds of those who contact us. This is also a requirement of the equality and human rights legislation.

Therefore at some stage after you get in touch with us, we will make contact to ask about your age, if you consider yourself disabled, your gender or gender identity, ethnic group, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.

This information will be kept confidential and will be used for statistical purposes, and to help us plan and deliver better services for all. It will also help us ensure that no individuals or groups who raise concerns with us are disadvantaged or discriminated against in any way.

Do contact us if you have any questions about any of the information you may be asked to provide.



How to contact Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS)

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0300 304 2198 If the office is not open a confidential message can be left on the answer phone.

Post: PALS Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Swandean, Arundel Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN13 3EP.


Other useful contact details

Parliamentary & Health Service OmbudsmanMillbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QPPhone: 0345 015 4033Fax: 0300 061 4000Email: phso.enquiries@ ombudsman.org.ukWebsite: www.cassca.org.uk

Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) - West Sussex Via Healthwatch West SussexPhone: 0300 012 0122Email: [email protected]: www.healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk

Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) - East Sussex Phone: 0330 440 9000 Email: [email protected] Website: www.seap.org.uk

Impetus (Brighton and Hove)Phone: 01273 775 888Website: www.bh-impetus.org

Solent Mind (Basingstoke, Hart & Rushmore, Andover and Test Valley, Winchester & District, Eastleigh & Romsey, New Forest) Phone: 023 8020 8951 Email: [email protected] Website: www.solentmind.org.uk

Havant & East Havant Mind (East Hants, Havant, Fareham & Gosport) Phone: 02392 484422 Email: [email protected] Website: www.easthantsmind.org


Freepost RSHG-GEZL-RBBKCommunicationsSussex Partnership NHS Foundation TrustTrust HeadquartersArundel Road WorthingBN13 3EP

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Experiencing dificulties with our services?

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Russian

若须一个翻译本，请在框格上打勾。请

填写你的姓名和地址并且把这张单子寄

到背面的地址。不须贴上邮票

Mandarin

Caso pretaenda a tradução, assinale a quadrícula. Preencha com o seu nome e morada, enviando este impresso para o endereço constante do verso. Não necessita de selo.

Portuguese

Jeśli chcesz otrzymać tłumaczenie, zaznacz okienko. Następnie wpisz swoje imię i nazwisko oraz adres i wyślij to na adres podany na odwrocie strony. Nie ma potrzeby naklejania znaczka pocztowego.

Polish

Urdu

خواهشمنديم . رجمه، شکل مربع را عالمت بزنيدبرای تنام و آدرس تان را وارد کنيد و اين فرم را به آدرس

. نيازی به تمبر پستی نيست. پشت صفحه ارسال نمائيد

Farsi

要求一份翻譯，在方格內加剔。請填上

你的姓名和地址，並把這表格送交背頁

的地址。無需郵票。

Cantonese

N এ K H এ এ ল ল

Bengali

. ضع عالمة داخل المربع للحصول على نسخة مترجمة،

يرجى إدراج أسمك و عنوانك و إرسال هذه االستمارة إلى . إللصاق طابع بريديال داع. العنوان المبين في الخلف

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