Compliments, comments, complaints and information
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
We are here to help you when you need support, have concerns, if you want to tell us about your experience of our services, or if you are not sure who to speak to.
What we can do:
- We will listen to you and try to help resolve any concerns by contacting services on your behalf;
- We can help provide information about the services we provide and signpost you to other organisations if appropriate;
- We will share your compliments with the services involved. You can read some of our recent fabulous feedback here;
- We can advise you about the formal complaints process and talk to you about independent advocacy services that can help;
- We will listen to your views and suggestions and share feedback with our services to help make improvements in patient care.
You can contact us by telephone, email and letter or by completing the feedback form below:
The PALS telephone line is open between the hours of 9.30am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. If we are unable to take your call, please leave a message. We hope to respond to all messages and emails within two working days. Contact us via:
PALS
B Block, Brighton General Hospital
Elm Grove, Brighton
BN2 3EW
Tel: 01273 242292
Email: sc-tr.PALS@nhs.net
Or download and return our print-friendly PALS Leaflet (Easy read PALS leaflet) to us.
NHS England have produced an awareness raising film for people with a learning disability, autistic people, families and carers which can help when giving feedback, raising a concern or making a complaint.
Complaints
We understand that sometimes you may not have a satisfactory experience of our services and we want to hear about it if things go wrong. You can talk to any of our staff about your complaint or contact PALS who will help you with the process.
We investigate all formal complaints so we can learn and improve our services for our patients and service users.
A complaint can be made face to face, by phone, email, online or in a letter to:
PALS
B Block, Brighton General Hospital
Elm Grove, Brighton
BN2 3EW
Tel: 01273 242292
Email: sc-tr.PALS@nhs.net
Online feedback form
On receipt of your complaint we will contact you to acknowledge it within three working days. A Patient Experience Adviser will discuss your concerns with you and advise on the likely timescales involved for us to respond; this can depend on the complexity of the complaint and the organisations involved. The Patient Experience Adviser will keep you up to date throughout the process.
Please be assured that all complaints are handled sensitively and in confidence, and that making a complaint will not prejudice the service we provide. If you are at all concerned that your complaint is having a detrimental effect on the service we provide, then please do let us know.
What if I remain unhappy?
If you are not happy with the outcome of the complaints process you may ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to consider your complaint. You can contact the PHSO via:
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London, SW1P 4QP
Complaints Helpline
Tel: 0845 015 4033
You can contact the PHSO for more information about making complaints via phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Independent Advocacy Services
A free, confidential service is available if you need help with making your complaint:
For East Sussex residents, this service is provided by SEAP PO Box 375, Hastings, TN34 9HU Tel: 0300 343 5709 Web: www.seap.org.uk
For West Sussex residents, you can contact the NHS Independent Health Complaint Advocacy helpline on: 0300 012 0122 or send an email to: enquiries@healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk
For Brighton and Hove residents, this service is provided by POhWER. You can contact them by telephone on: 0300 456 2370 or by email at: pohwer@pohwer.net They also have a website at: www.pohwer.net
We would love to hear about your experience of our PALS service. Please complete this short survey.
If you want to find out more about COVID-19, please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus
