Unhappy with our service?

This page explains what to do if you are unhappy with the decision we made about your complaint or with the way that we dealt with you.

We receive thousands of complaints about the NHS in England, UK government departments and other public organisations every year. We consider each complaint very carefully and aim to give the best possible service to everyone. We realise, however, that not everyone will be happy with the decision we make about their complaint or with the way that we dealt with it.

If you think we have got something wrong or that we have not dealt with you as you would expect, please tell us so that we can look into it.

Please make sure you raise your concerns with us within three months of when we sent you our decision on your original complaint. This page tells you more about how you can do this.

What to do if you think our decision about your complaint was wrong

If you think that our decision on your complaint is wrong, we can, under certain circumstances, review our decision. Please tell us what you think we got wrong and why, using the following form:

Please note that a review does not mean we will look at your original complaint again. Instead it means we will look to see if we took account of all the relevant evidence and made a fair decision based on this.

How to complain about the way we dealt with you

If you are not happy with the way we dealt with you, for example you might think we took too long to deal with your original complaint, you can either:

  • Contact the member of staff who was dealing with your original complaint or their manager, or
  • Contact our internal complaints team – their contact details are on this page.

To help us consider your complaint, please use the following form:

What happens next?

Please send us your completed form and any supporting documents by email or post, keeping a copy for your own records: 

complaintsaboutphso@ombudsman.org.uk

The Review Team
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Our aim is to respond within 16 weeks, but we will usually be able to get back to you a lot sooner than this.

If we agree our decision about your original complaint was wrong or that that we did not deal with you properly, we will apologise and tell you what we will do to fix things.

Once you have received our response, that is the end of our internal  complaints  procedure. If you disagree with our response you can challenge it  through the   courts using judicial review. We are unable to give you advice about  this and you might need to get your own independent or legal advice on how to do  this.

Would you like more information or help from us?

We are here to help. Please contact us if you need more information. We can: 

  • give you advice on which form to use,
  • help you complete the forms
  • provide the forms in other formats, such as large print

By email:  complaintsaboutphso@ombudsman.org.uk
By telephone: 0300 061 4076
By fax: 0300 061 4000

Would you like to make a comment, send a compliment and/or suggest an idea?

If you would like to make a comment, send us a compliment or suggest an idea about improving our service, please contact the person who is handling your case. Alternatively you can email complaintsaboutphso@ombudsman.org.uk or contact our helpline on 0300 061 4076.