CQC Regulation 16: Complaints Handling for Private Clinics

What Regulation 16 says

Regulation 16 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 is headed "Receiving and acting on complaints". It has 3 parts.

• Every complaint must be investigated, with necessary and proportionate action taken where something went wrong.
• You must run an accessible system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling and responding to complaints.
• When CQC asks, you must send a summary of complaints and your responses within 28 days.

The 28 day rule is enforceable

CQC can prosecute a provider that fails to send complaint information within 28 days of a request, and it can go straight to prosecution without a warning notice first.

CQC recommends an independent review stage

CQC's guidance says providers should consider adding an independent review stage if their process does not have one, and should cooperate with any independent review.

Its Mythbuster 103 goes further: "It is good practice to provide independent adjudication on complaints." Private patients cannot use the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, so without an independent stage a patient has nowhere neutral to go.

What this means in practice

• A written complaints policy, given to patients, with timescales.
• A log of every complaint, its outcome and what changed.
• A senior internal review stage for patients still unhappy.
• An independent final stage, such as HSCAMP adjudication.
• Complaint records you can send CQC within 28 days.

Questions