Complaints

Health Service Ombudsman (HSO) The contact details are:

NHS ENGLAND

By post to:

NHS England
PO Box 16738,
Redditch,
B97 9PT

By email to: 
england.contactus@nhs.net

If you are making a complaint please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line.

By telephone:
0300 311 22 33

Our opening hours are 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday, except Wednesdays when we open at the later time of 9.30am. We are closed on bank holidays.

Provide as much information as possible to allow NHS England to investigate your complaint. Include the following:

• your name and a valid email or home address for reply
• a phone number in case we need to contact you for additional information
• the name, location, and postal address (if you know it) of the service you want to complain about
• if your complaint is about healthcare in prison, the name of the prison
• a clear description of what you want to complain about and when this happened
• any relevant correspondence

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we will need their consent to proceed with the complaint. We will contact you about this.

When a complaint is made about a service such as a GP, dentist or pharmacy, we will also require specific consent to share the complaint with that service in order to investigate it. It will speed up the process if you include the following line in your complaint:

“I give permission for my complaint to be shared with (insert name of GP / dental surgery etc.) in order for NHS England to carry out an investigation.”

Please do not post removable media to NHS England, for example CDs, DVDs, SD cards and memory sticks. Due to security restrictions we are unable to access information sent this way. Any removable media will be returned to you, or securely destroyed if we do not have your details.

NHS England will acknowledge all complaints no later than the third working day after the day the complaint is received.

Investigating the complaint

The complaint will be investigated and you will receive the findings of the investigation along with an apology. You will also receive an explanation of any lessons learned or changes that will take place as a result of the findings of the investigation.

How long will it take?

This will depend on what your complaint is about and how complex it is. Communication with you is important and we will keep you updated throughout the process.

Some of our offices are currently not accessible to staff and they are working remotely. If you need to contact NHS England about an existing complaint, please email where possible. You can find the email address in the letter we sent to you to acknowledge your complaint. You will also find a number you can call us on, included in this letter. If you still need to write to us, please don’t use the address on your acknowledgement letter as it may be some time before we can retrieve your letter from this office. Instead, please write to: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT

The Practice complaints manager is Sharon

Sharon will always listen to complaints in a private room and will try her best to conclude the complaint at the meeting.