Introduction
Well Life Physio Therapy are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our patients. When something goes wrong, we want to be informed about it. Our complaints policy below explains how you can do this. Any feedback you give us will help us to improve our standards.
If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. You can do so by communicating with any member of the team.
Informal complaints
If you are able to do so, please speak to a member of the team via phone (07722 327 546 or 0121 439 4730) or in person in the first instance, as they may be able to find a resolution to your complaint that day.
If you submit your complaint in an unwritten form or it cannot be resolved that day, you may be directed to submit your complaint again in writing to the Practice Manager.
Formal complaints options
- Please submit complaints in writing via the form below:
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- Or by Post to The Practice Manager
Well Life Centre
58 Birmingham Street,
Oldbury,
B69 4DZ
Please note that correspondence via our online web form or via email is preferable as it allows for quicker response to your concerns and is more environmentally sustainable.
What will happen next?
- We will send you an email (or letter if no email address has been provided) acknowledging receipt of your written complaint within 1 working day of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
- We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve speaking to the involved parties in the complaint and reviewing any associated documentation, notes, or records.
- We have up to 28 days to complete our investigation and consider your written complaint against all available sources.
- The Practice Manager will then offer you an appointment to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. They will offer you an appointment within 14 days of the close of the investigation.
- Within three days of the meeting, the Practice Manager will email or write to you to confirm the discussion points and any solutions that have been agreed with you.
- If you do not want an appointment or it is not possible to do so in person or remotely, the Practice Manager will send you a written response to your complaint, including their suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of the close of the investigation.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for the Lead Physiotherapist or someone unconnected with the matter at Well Life Physiotherapy, or for an independent mediator, to review the complaint and make recommendations.
- We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming any further action, or our final position on your complaint, and explaining our reasons.
- If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy or The Health and Cares Professions Council if the complaint was regarding professional misconduct or unprofessional conduct. If the complaint was regarding anything else, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint by writing to:
Legal Ombudsman,
PO Box 6806,
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within six years of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or if outside of this period, within three years of when you should reasonably have been aware of it). For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or via email.Additional Guidance: If your complaint is regarding the Practice Manager, the complaint will be handled by the CEO.
The Health and Care Professions Council
The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), as the regulatory body, handles complaints concerning the professional conduct and performance or fitness to practice of a physiotherapy registrant. Email them at feedback@hcpc-uk.org.
If your concern refers to the professional competence of a physiotherapist, physiotherapy support worker or student you will need to contact their employer or university. They will have their own process in place and will be able to deal with any concerns you may have.
The HCPC cannot investigate every concern about a registrant, only those where there appears to be a risk to the safety of service users, colleagues or the public, or undermine public confidence in the professions we regulate.
If you are unhappy with the care or service you have received from one of our registered professionals, it is usually best to tell the professional or other management staff at their place of work. This will give them the opportunity to put things right and is generally the most effective method of resolving a complaint.
We can offer information about how to make a complaint with a professional or their employer. If for any reason you have concerns about complaining to the employer, you can report the matter to us without complaining first to the employer.
Our Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics set out the standards we set for all of the professionals on our register, stating in broad terms our expectations of their behaviour and conduct. You can view a copy of the Standards for Conduct, Performance and Ethics here.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is responsible for maintaining and protecting the reputation of the Society. If a CSP member has acted in a way to damage public trust or confidence in the Society (including on social media), please email them here and they will look into it. However, the CSP can only take action if there is an issue to pursue against someone.
If this type of complaint is upheld, sanctions open to the CSP include:
- providing advice to the member
- limiting CSP services to the member
- removing membership.
The CSP cannot stop a member’s ability to practise. They routinely review the outcomes of HCPC fitness to practise hearings and any CSP member who has been struck off the HCPC register will have their CSP membership terminated.
They do not provide mediation or arbitration services between CSP members and patients or between members or get involved in business or private disputes involving members.
The CSP complaints procedure is not for:
- contesting decisions on admission to membership of the CSP
- making claims for damages arising out of policy decisions by the CSP or contesting those policy decisions
- investigating grievances raised by CSP employees
- investigating complaints about the CSP made by CSP staff, whether members or not
- complaints about applications for subject access under the Data Protection Act 2018
- the activities of organisations affiliated to the CSP, e.g. clinical interest and occupational groups
- rehearing complaints previously dealt with by the CSP under former procedures.
Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
Members of the public can contact the ICO about problems accessing their information from private organisations or public bodies. They can report nuisance calls, cold calls, and spam messages. There is also a helpline and live chat option for advice. Please access these ICO services here.