All private hospitals must have a complaints procedure and
be able to provide information to their patients about how to complain. Because
there is no standard complaints procedure for private healthcare, you must rely
on the individual hospital/clinic’s in-house complaints system.
There is a complaints resolution process for some private
hospitals, run by the Independent
Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS). The Independent Sector
Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) is the recognised complaints management
framework in the independent healthcare sector, serving patients, the public
and healthcare organisations. The Code of Practice (the Code) sets out the
standards that ISCAS members agree to meet when handling complaints about their
services.
Ask for a copy of the hospital or insurance company’s
complaints procedure if you are making a formal complaint, and keep a record of
all correspondence (phone calls, letters, emails, face to face conversations,
and with whom, and write down what was said, and the date/time) as you will
probably need to refer to these at a later date. For private treatment paid for by the NHS you
must still follow the private company’s complaints procedure. but you can
complain to the NHS if you are unhappy about how the private treatment was
arranged by the NHS.
The Patients’
Association represents the interests of patients and provides independent
advice on pursuing a private complaint.
You can also get advice from Action
against Medical Accidents, a charity helping patients who have suffered
from medical accidents and clinical negligence and if you have a complaint
about a hospital/clinic/treatment centre which subscribes to the ISCAS complaints
scheme), you are entitled to a full and prompt response. The ISCAS Code of Practice for Handling
Patients’ Complaints provides a structure within which private healthcare
providers may address patient complaints against providers, and/or clinicians
practicing within the provider organisations and gives sound advice about how
to get a satisfactory response, and is supported by the Patients Association.
