NEL Carelink is committed to providing a high quality, transparent and accessible service to everyone we deal with. In order to do this, we need to be told when we get things wrong. We want to help resolve complaints as quickly as possible. We listen to complaints, treat them seriously, and learn from them so that we can continuously improve our service. We regard even small concerns as complaints as these can lead to positive changes to service delivery.

 

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not and we will undertake to manage them through the following guidelines:

 

• We will receive any complaint in a way accessible to the individual, either letter, e-mail, telephone call, text or a direct verbal complaint.

 

• We will support customers, their family, friends and agencies to make their complaint and treat everyone fairly, taking into account individual needs and unique characteristics. We will consider guidance from our Equality & Diversity Policy in managing all complaints.

 

• We accept complaints from Third parties – family, friends or agencies working with our customers but will ask permission to talk to them about the situation making sure the customer is happy with how we are dealing with it.

 

• We will treat people who complain with courtesy, respect and fairness at all times. However, we also expect that individuals will also treat our staff dealing with their complaint with the same courtesy, respect and fairness. We will not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour but will note the complaint and deal with it at a time when we can work with the person to resolve it
  
  
• We will treat all complaints seriously and aim to resolve them first time. We may though require someone more senior to look into it. Our staff will consider the complaint and how best it can be dealt and tell you if we need more information or someone more senior to examine it.

• We will respond to any complaint within 5 working days at the very latest and provide a timeframe for how long we expect it to take to examine and resolve the complaint.
  
  
• We will keep details of the complaint confidential if asked, although we may need to share information with colleagues, agencies but will inform the complainant if we do and give the reason why. We will ensure that we manage and store information relating to complaints in line with our Confidentiality and GDPR policy.
  
  
• If customers are not satisfied with how we dealt with their complaint first time round, we can offer to have the complaint reviewed, listened to and considered by the Control Centre Manager. If you are still unhappy with the response, we will ask if you want us to forward the complaint and our response to one of our Trustees. They are not directly involved with Carelink’s day to day work and so can provide an impartial perspective.
  
  
• We monitor all the complaints we receive however small and review them, making sure we are continually improving the service we provide and learn from any mistakes we make.

 

• This policy and procedure will be reviewed immediately when there are changes to legislation or guidance, if we alter our work practice and/or at least every 3 years.

 If you have a complaint please contact us or 01472 312312 or by email [email protected] and we will do our best to resolve it. 

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