NHS Complaint Timescales

When making an NHS complaint in England it is important to note that there are timescales involved. If you take to long to make your complaint it may not be dealt with.

The Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations (England) 2009 at 12. states the following; -

Time limit for making a complaint

12. (1) Except as mentioned in paragraph (2), a complaint must be made not later than 12 months after-

(a) the date on which the matter which is the subject of the complaint occurred; or

(b) if later, the date on which the matter which is the subject of the complaint came to the notice of the complainant.

(2) The time limit in paragraph (1) shall not apply if the responsible body is satisfied that-

(a) the complainant had good reasons for not making the complaint within that time limit; and

(b) notwithstanding the delay, it is still possible to investigate the complaint effectively and fairly.

Therefore this means that if you make an NHS complaint within 12 months of either when the incident happened or when you knew you had a cause for a complaint the NHS should investigate it.

But what does 'when you knew you had a cause for a complaint mean' I hear some of you ask. Well let's say you have an operation and a surgeon leaves something inside your stomach. You wake up and for the next two years everything is fine. Then one day you start suffering from stomach pains. You go to the doctor and eventually find out that a swab from your operation was the cause of all the problems. Although two years have elapsed you can still complain as the 12 month time limit starts from when you found out that a swab had been left in you.

As per (2) (a) and (b) of the Complaint regulations you can still make a complaint outside of the 12 month time limit. In these cases you will should explain why you have made the complaint outside of the limits ie you may have been recovering from a mental or physical health problem that prevented you from complaining. You should note however that if because of the delay in making a complaint it is not possible to effectively and fairly investigate your complaint, say because the staff member has left, your complaint might not be investigated.