Contents:

• our standards for handling complaints

• Complaints process including if you remain dissatisfied

• How to make a complaint & Timescales

• Remedies

Pharmacy2U is committed to providing a high-quality service to everyone we deal with. In order to do this, we appreciate your comments about our service, and your complaints when we get things wrong. We want to resolve complaints as quickly as possible.

We treat as a complaint any expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls for a response. We listen to your complaints, treat them seriously, and learn from them so that we can continuously improve our service.

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not.

Our policy covers complaints about:

• The standard of service we provide

• The behavior of our staff

• Any action or lack of action by staff affecting an individual or group

Our complaints policy does not cover:

• Matters that have already been fully investigated through this complaints procedure

• Anonymous complaints

Complaint Standards:

• We treat all complaints seriously.

• You will always be treated with courtesy and fairness. We would hope that you will always be courteous and fair in your dealings with our staff.

• We will treat your complaint in confidence.

• We will deal with your complaint promptly. We will acknowledge receipt of a written complaint within 5 working days and we will aim to send you a full reply within 15 working days of receipt. (full reply within 5 working days for a complaint via Email)

• If we cannot send a full reply within 15 working days of receipt, we will tell you the reason why and let you know when we will be able to reply in full. (5 working days for a complaint via Email)

• We publish information in our annual report to NHS England on the numbers and categories of complaints we receive, and the number of complaints upheld.

Complaint Handling:

• Our aim is to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction on the first occasion that you raise it.

• Where the complaint is raised by letter we will try to contact you over the telephone to seek a resolution quickly, or alternatively we will send you acknowledgement of your complaint with a view to responding within 15 working days as above.

• Where the complaint is raised by Email we will try to contact you over the telephone to seek a resolution quickly, or alternatively we will send you acknowledgement of your complaint with a view to responding within 5 working days as above.

Remedies:

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When we get things wrong, we will act to:

• Accept responsibility

• Explain what went wrong and why

• Put things right by making any changes required

The actions we take to put matters right in response to a complaint can include but are not limited to the remedies set out in the list below. The general principle we follow is that a complainant should, so far as possible, be put in the position he or she would have been in, had things not gone wrong.

The remedy chosen needs to be proportionate and appropriate to the failure in service and take into account what people are looking for when they complain. An apology is normally appropriate, but other action may also be necessary:

• A sincere and meaningful apology, and an explanation of what happened and what went wrong.

• Remedial action, which may include reviewing or changing a decision on the service given to an individual complainant.

• Putting things right for the future: for example a change of procedures to prevent future issues of a similar kind, either for the complainant or others.

• Training, supervising, or managing the performance of staff.

Recording of Complaints:

We log and review all complaints we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems, identify trends, and assess how long we are taking to deal with them, with the aim of continuous improvement.

We will handle your information in compliance with all relevant data protection legislation.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint or the outcome:

If you are dissatisfied with the response you get from us, you may escalate your complaint to one of our regulatory bodies.

If your complaint is about an NHS service:

Contact: NHS England

https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/complaining-to-nhse/

If your complaint is about the Online Doctor service:

Contact: the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

https://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us

For any type of complaint:

Contact: the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/patients-and-public/reporting-concerns