Changes to NHS NWL complaints policy
The North West London Integrated Care System has made some changes to how you can complain about primary services such as GPs, dentists, opticians, and pharmacy services. Starting from 1 July, if you want to make a complaint about primary care services, you now need to contact NHS North West London directly instead of NHS England.
Service users will have two alternative options to raise their concerns about their primary care experience:
- You can complain directly to the healthcare practice who gave you the NHS service by writing the Practice Manager of that specific practice.
- Alternatively, you can decide to complain to the commissioner of the service, who paid for the care or services you received. For residents of Kensington and Chelsea, this is the NHS North West London Trust.
You can contact the NHS North West London Trust in the following ways:
- By phoning the automated line at 020 3350 4567, and leaving a message requesting a call back.
- By emailing nhsnwl.complaints@nhs.net.
- By writing directly to NHS North West London at: Complaints Manager, NHS North West London, 15 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JD
Changes to ongoing complaints
These changes also affect ongoing open complaints: if you sent in your complaint on or after 1 July 2022, you will receive a letter from NHS England telling you that NHS North West London is now taking care of your complaint. You will also be notified of who is now handling your case.
If you lodged your complaint before 1 July 2022, you will receive a letter from NHS England, letting you know that they're keeping hold of your complaint, with more details on the handling procedure.
Our position
We want service providers and commissioners to learn from complaints and improve how they deliver their services. Improving primary care services is an effort that involves action at the local level and purposeful coordination between all actors involved, and we believe this new system will benefit all.
We know that navigating the NHS Complaints System may be difficult, so don't hesitate to reach out to us if you need any more information or redirection.
