Complaints

At Southside Psychiatry, we aim to provide a high standard of care and a service that puts patients at the centre of what we do.

We welcome feedback about your experience with us — both positive and negative. If something has gone wrong, or you are unhappy with any aspect of our service, we want to hear about it.

Raising a concern or complaint will not affect the care you receive from us.

How can I make a complaint?

You can make a complaint:

• In person

• By telephone

• By email ( info@southpsych.co.uk)

• via the feedback form at the top of this page

• By letter

You can speak to any member of the Southside Psychiatry team, who will make sure your concern is passed to the appropriate person.

What happens after I complain?

We use an Act, Resolve, Learn approach.

Act

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days.

We will let you know who is looking into your complaint and provide their contact details.

We will keep you informed while we investigate.

We aim to complete our investigation and provide a response within 28 days. If we need longer, we will explain why and agree this with you.

Resolve

Once we have investigated your complaint, we will explain what we have found.

Where appropriate, we may arrange to speak or meet with you to discuss the outcome.

You will receive a written response explaining:

• What we found

• The outcome of the investigation

• Any action we have taken

• Any changes we intend to make as a result

Learn

We review complaints within the Southside Psychiatry team so that we can identify anything we could do differently or better.

Where appropriate, we will make changes to our systems, procedures or clinical practice to reduce the chance of the same problem happening again.

What if I disagree with a clinical decision?

Sometimes a patient may disagree with a clinician's professional or clinical judgement, such as a diagnosis, treatment recommendation or prescribing decision.

We will always listen to your concerns and explain the reasons for our clinical decisions. However, disagreement with a clinical judgement may need to be considered separately from our formal complaints process.

We will explain the appropriate next steps if this applies to you.

Can I complain to someone outside Southside Psychiatry?

Yes.

Southside Psychiatry is regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).

You can contact Healthcare Improvement Scotland about a complaint regarding an independent healthcare service. You do not have to wait until Southside Psychiatry has completed its own complaints process before contacting them.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Independent Healthcare Team
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9EB

Email: his.ihcregulation@nhs.scot

Our commitment to you

If you raise a concern or complaint, we will:

• Take you seriously

• Treat you fairly and respectfully

• Keep you informed

• Investigate your concerns appropriately

• Explain our findings clearly

• Learn from complaints wherever we can

Complaints and feedback help us improve the care we provide.