The Independent Complaints Advocacy service is provided by the Carers Federation in Gateshead and can help if someone feels they haven’t had the service they expected from the NHS and want to complain.

An NHS complaint might include something that happened during care or treatment at:
• Hospital
• Your General Practitioner (GP)
• The pharmacist
• The optician
• An NHS funded care home

Throughout the complaints process an Advocate might do some or all of the following:
• Help to compile all the issues someone wants to raise in their complaint
• Help write letters to the right people
• Prepare someone for meetings and attend them
• Answer questions and help someone make decisions
• Give someone the opportunity to speak confidentially to someone independent from the NHS
• Meet someone face to face to discuss the complaint
• Provide information about how the NHS complaint process works
• Help monitor the progress of someone’s complaint
• Put someone in touch with other people or services that might be able to help

Complaints can be made on behalf of a child under the age of 18 if they are unable to make the complaint themselves. Interpretation and translation services are available.