Patient Complaint and Feedback Policy
Purpose:
To document the process to follow when Village FHT receives a patient complaint including a complaint about a physician.
Policy:
Village FHT will provide a high standard of care to all of its patients and will introduce and implement best practices in health care delivery. As a component of a patient-centred approach to care, Village FHT values the feedback it receives from its patients. FHT team members will listen to patients and take appropriate action. Complaints from patients will be taken seriously and will be investigated promptly. All complaints will be considered on their merits and there will be no victimization of the complainant. Ongoing care or provision of services will not be affected by the presences of a complaint.
All complaints will be dealt with in confidence. Patient information will be shared with only team members who need to know.
The Executive Director will maintain a log of patient complaints. The Board will annually review a summary of all complaints and will identify opportunities to improve practice for the benefit of staff and patients.
Procedure:
A complaint represents a level of dissatisfaction with service and can be provided verbally or in writing to any member of the FHT team. All staff who receive a compliant shall be empowered to resolve it immediately and informally as they are able. The patient shall decide if a verbal complaint is registered formally.
Complaints shall be dealt with in three stages:
Informal: Any staff member who receives an informal complaint shall provide the feedback to the Executive Director indicating if:
the complaint is resolves and in what manner
the complaint requires further action.
Formal: A formal complaint is one that has been submitted in writing to any member of the team including WellX, email, webform, postings on social media, voicemail and all other written documents or verbal complaints that the patient wishes to make formally.
All complaints shall be forwarded to the Executive Director or Lead Physician for action. The Executive Director and or Lead Physician shall be responsible for determining an appropriate course of action and shall inform those staff or physicians who need to know about the complaint and or who may be involved in resolving the complaint. The Board of Directors shall be informed as necessary.
If the complaint is about physician care, the Lead Physician or Assistant Lead Physician will assume responsibility for investigating and reporting on the complaint following the Process of Management of Serious Complaints about Physician Practice described in this policy document.
Appeal: If a complaint is not resolved to a patient’s satisfaction, the complaint shall be forwarded to the Board Chair for further discussion and action as necessary. Decisions of the Board of Directors shall be final.