Patient relations

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust recognises the importance of your experience as a patient and those of your friends and family. We aim to listen to you, respond in a timely way and learn from you to help improve our services.

The Trust offers advice and support for both patients and visitors. This website provides information on these services and how to access them, and also ways you can get involved to help make improvements.

Any concerns or complaints raised will not in any way prejudice treatment or care provided by the Trust. If you feel this to be the case then please do not hesitate to contact us and let us know your concerns.

Questions or concerns?

Always speak to ward or clinic staff if you:

have any queries
are unhappy or concerned with an aspect of the Trust’s services.

Most often, our staff can deal with your enquiry straight away. If you feel they cannot help or you do not wish to speak to them you can contact the Patient Relations service.

Patient Relations will:

help answer your questions about the Trust and your healthcare
provide impartial information on a range of issues
offer advice and support if you feel things have not gone as planned
respond to your queries and concerns
aim to propose resolutions to meet your needs and those of your families and carers
listen to your suggestions for service improvement
provide information and advice on Trust services
inform you of the formal complaints procedure and help you to get independent advice and support
help the organisation learn from patients experiences and comments.

The service promises to:

contact you in two working days of your request
advise you on the options available and help you resolve your concerns
deal with your concerns in confidence and only pass on information to other departments with your permission
keep you regularly informed of the progress of any action you ask us to take on your behalf
ensure that all your needs are met and that you receive a high quality of service.

Contact Patient Relations

Telephone 01922 656463 or email: pals.officer@nhs.net

Colleagues can contact Patient Relations on your behalf, or you can fill out a Patient Relations comment card, just ask a member staff to provide one. Patient Relations attempt to resolve problems quickly, however if you feel the need to complain about any aspect of your NHS experience the service will be happy to advise and guide you through the complaints procedure.

The service is located on Route 136 in general office.

Opening times

The Patient Relations service is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. For face-to-face enquiries, the office can be visited between the hours of 9am and 4pm.
Outside of these hours please feel free to leave an answerphone message. Someone will return your call as quickly as possible.
Please note the service is not open on Bank Holidays.

Making a complaint

If you feel you wish to take your concerns further or you would prefer to make a formal complaint you can do this in writing to:

The Chief Executive
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
Moat Road
Walsall
WS2 9PS

After your complaint has been received you will receive a written acknowledgement within three working days and may also receive a telephone call to discuss how you would like your complaint to be resolved.

If you would like someone from an independent organisation to help you with your formal complaint and feel it would be helpful, you can contact the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service. This service is open to all Walsall residents and can provide advice and assistance with your complaint. They can be contacted on 0300 456 2370 or by email.

The Trust aims to respond in full to all complaints within 30 working days (six weeks from the date we receive it). If for some reason this date cannot be achieved we will keep you informed and explain the reason why.

If you need help and English is not your first language

The Together Our Health Linkworkers team provide an interpreting service for patients who do not speak English. They are able to provide interpreting and translation services where necessary. The interpreting service can be contacted Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm by telephone on 07920 537710. You can also email the team.

Contacting the Ombudsman

If you have contacted the Patient Relations team or made a formal complaint to the Trust, and we have been unable to resolve your issue to satisfaction, then you can ask the Health or Local Government Ombudsmen to review the matter.

If the issue is about an NHS service then you can contact the Health Service Ombudsman by visiting www.ombudsman.org.uk or calling the helpline on 0345 015 4033 or in writing to The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP.

If the issue is about an adult social care service the person complaining can contact the Local Government Ombudsman by visiting www.lgo.org.uk or calling the helpline on 0845 602 1983 or in writing to The Local Government Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry CV4 0EH.

Patient choice

All patients in Walsall have a choice of where and when to go to see a specialist, which is called Patient Choice. This is part of the NHS Constitution which states that you, as a patient, have a legal right to choose which hospital or service you would like to go to (exclusions apply).

Visit the Walsall CCG or NHS England websites for more information.