These are a few questions which are commonly asked. Please contact us if your question isn’t answered below.
How do enquiries to PALS differ from formal complaints?
PALS staff will not pursue a concern that is already being addressed through the Trust’s complaints procedure. If a person has previously made a formal complaint to the Trust about a particular issue, PALS staff cannot take further action to resolve the matter. If the issue needs serious, in depth or formal investigation, or if a person wishes to make a formal complaint, PALS will explain the complaints procedure, and provide information of independent advocacy and support should they so wish. PALS can also pass their query on to the Complaints and Legal Services Department. If you wish to make a formal complaint please complete the online complaints form.
Will anyone know I have contacted PALS?
No – PALS is a confidential NHS service. We will not speak to anyone about you unless we have your permission to do so, except where this may affect your own or someone else’s health and safety. Your enquiry can remain anonymous, although to ensure that all concerns are bought to the Trust’s attention, records of all enquiries are kept. We regularly use this information to compile reports about the work we are doing, and the issues that patients are raising with us. However, all our reports are anonymised, and we take care to ensure that no enquirers can be identified. Information about you may be held in our database and you may at any time see the information the PALS Team hold about you. We are registered under the Data Protection Act for this purpose.
Will my care be affected by contacting PALS?
The care you receive will not be adversely affected by speaking to PALS or raising a complaint.
Can I ask for information about the care and treatment of my relative?
The PALS team have a duty of confidentiality to our patients. This means that we will not share information about a patient without their permission to do so. This does not mean that we will not look into the concerns of relatives or friends about a patient’s care and treatment, but it does mean that we will not always be able to share the full results of our investigations.