NHS complaints procedures
All contractors should have arrangements in place for the handling of complaints, under the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations and national equivalents.
These arrangements cover dealing with complaints efficiently, ensuring they are properly investigated and appropriate action taken, treating complainants with respect and courtesy, providing timely and appropriate responses and keeping them informed of any outcome.
The provisions governing complaints in the four nations of the UK may be slightly different and are reviewed and refreshed from time to time. Further detail on national schemes is available from the national negotiating bodies.
Pause to reflect
Discuss the following scenarios with your team.
• A customer brings back a tub of baby formula that she purchased last week. She noticed that it went out of date last month. She doesn’t have the receipt.
• A customer comes in with a box of perindopril 8mg, which has been labelled perindopril 4mg. He has been taking the medicine daily for a week. He is quite angry and concerned that his blood pressure has been affected.
• A regular customer who has repeat prescriptions comes in to collect her monthly items. They aren’t made up yet, but you have the prescription. She has a taxi waiting and is getting frustrated. She is complaining to your counter assistant about the delay.
In each case, how would you handle the complaint? Ask team members what action they would take in each case if they were the first person the customer spoke to about their issue?
What would be an ideal outcome for the pharmacy? Did your discussion of complaint handling cover all the points in the step by step section of the module?
Does your discussion raise any immediate actions for you and your team? How will you implement those actions in order to be better prepared for the next time you get a complaint?
Acknowledgement
The step by step guide in this module was developed in part using material from Skills You Need, which is part of the UK Web Archive, officially archived by the National Library of Wales.
Record your learning
Use this learning as one of your CPD entries for your revalidation. Use these questions to formulate your CPD entry:
• What have you learned by completing this module?
• How have you applied the learning?
• How has or will the learning benefit the people using your services?
You can record and save your CPD entry onto your own personal learning log here but not before clicking NEXT to complete this module.