Complaints Procedure

We aspire to provide the highest standard of care possible throughout your visit. However, if you are unhappy with the treatment or have any concerns about the service you have received please let us know. For such circumstances, we have a complaints procedure in place. 

Our Principles for Managing Complaints

  • Forward Step Physiotherapy aims to resolve complaints as quickly as possible, particularly through an immediate informal (verbal) response
  • Forward Step Physiotherapy will ensure that all complaints are handled promptly, openly, and thoroughly
  • Forward Step Physiotherapy complaints procedure will be fair to the complainant and staff
  • Forward Step Physiotherapy will ensure the process is supportive and will lead to improvement in the standards of service delivery and patient care
  • Forward Step Physiotherapy will carry out an investigation to find a resolution
  • If a resolution cannot be reached at local level, Forward Step Physiotherapy will inform the complainant of how they can escalate their complaint or obtain an independent review of their complaint (if appropriate)

To Whom Should I Raise my Concern/Complaint Initially?

The first stage of our procedure is we encourage you to speak with your therapist to see if this can resolve your concern. We aim to resolve concerns and complaints quickly, and provide you with a service you expect. 

If local resolution has not been successful or if you feel your complaint requires escalating to a higher authority, you will need to put your complaint formally in writing:

Please write to us:

Tracy Jackson or Kathy Francis

Forward Step Physiotherapy

New College Community Sports Centre,

New College Drive,

Swindon

SN3 1EA 

We aim to acknowledge receipt of the complaint with 5 working days
A full response within 30 working days.

You should be kept informed of progress if, for any reason, this is not going to happen.

 If for any reason, you are unhappy with Forward Step Physiotherapy’s formal response to your complaint, then you should consult with the person/organisation that referred you in the first instance. Or you can write to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy which is our professional governing body:

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
14 Bedford Row
London
WC1R 4ED
www.csp.org.uk                       

 Please be assured that all your comments and suggestions will be dealt with in a confidential and sensitive manner.


Policy on Access to Clinical Records

The practice is aware of ‘Access to Health Records 1990’ which came into force in November 1991. This establishes a patient’s right of access to normally held medical records, and provides for inaccurate medical records to be corrected on behalf of the patient.

Application for Access:

This may be made by;

• The patient
• A parent or guardian (in the case of a child)
• or, where an adult is incapable of managing his own affairs, any individual appointed by the Court to manage those affairs.
• By the patient’s personal representative after the patient’s death

After an application has been made:

Patients have a right to view their notes without charge. Requests should be made directly to the therapist in charge of the case. The therapist will arrange an appropriate time (within two weeks) for the patient to see the records when they are available to explain any terms necessary. If the patient wishes the physiotherapist to interpret their notes with a face to face meeting this may be charged at usual appointment rates.

If the patient requests a copy of the records, they will be charged a reasonable photocopying fee. (Any copies made in this instance are no longer the responsibility of the clinic; this means the clinic is not responsible for any loss of confidentiality brought about by the patient and their copy of the notes) 

The original notes themselves remain the property of the therapist and do not leave the clinic.

If the patient requests corrections to any information:

If the therapist agrees to the correction, the notes are corrected accordingly.

If the therapist does not agree to the correction, a note of the applicant’s opinion must be included in the record (and copied to them).

Clinical records are stored for the retention schedule recommended by the Records Management Code of Practice.