Frequently Asked Questions

A complaint resolution service, often referred to as ‘adjudication,’ typically refers to a process where a neutral third party, separate from the independent healthcare provider being complained about, investigates, and resolves the complaint.

For patient, the adjudication process ensures fairness for patients by providing them with a platform to voice their concerns and seek timely resolutions when their complaints cannot be satisfactorily resolved through the independent healthcare provider’s internal complaint pathway.

For independent healthcare providers, providing access to adjudication to patient aligns the healthcare provider with the CQC’s expectations for best practices. It also acts as a safeguard, giving patients an independent route to resolve an unresolved complaint before it goes to court.

Not at the moment. No regulator in the UK (CQC, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales or RQIA) requires a private provider to subscribe to an independent complaint scheme. CQC describes independent adjudication as good practice, and since 6 April 2026 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 requires every clinic to tell a patient at the end of a complaint what alternative dispute resolution is available to them. Our regulator guides under Resources explain what applies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The current CQC guidance states that there is an expectation that patients should have access to independent resolution, and providers who do not offer such a mechanism must be able to demonstrate that patients are not disadvantaged by this.

A robust 2-stage internal resolution process could potentially show the CQC that patients aren’t negatively affected by the absence of an independent resolution mechanism. The second stage must operate independently from the provider, making decisions impartially, even if not aligned with the provider’s interests, which is challenging within a company-centric environment.

Due to the increasing significance of no win no fee solicitors in the healthcare space, patients with no access to adjudication may have little option but to seek redress through the courts. No win no fee arrangements make it easy for a patient to bring a claim by removing upfront legal fees. By subscribing to adjudication and setting out the complaint process clearly in their complaints information, healthcare providers can offer patients independent adjudication as a faster alternative, and many patients will use it rather than going straight to a solicitor. Patients keep the right to take legal advice at any time. Resolving a complaint early and on the evidence often avoids the cost of a disputed claim.

Yes. You can make HSCAMP stage 3 of your complaints process and, in your complaints policy and consent forms, ask patients to use it before starting court proceedings. It is free to the patient, they can take legal advice at any time, and it does not affect their statutory rights, including the right to go to court. A term that tries to stop a patient going to court is likely to be unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, so the wording should ask rather than require. The complaints policy template in your Clinic Portal does this for you.

The HSCAMP independent adjudication service specialises in the evaluation and resolution of patient complaints. Each case is decided by one named adjudicator with experience relevant to the complaint. Where specialist expertise is needed, the adjudicator obtains an independent opinion from a specialist in the relevant field. Where the patient accepts the decision it is binding on the clinic. It does not bind the patient, whose statutory rights, including the right to go to court, are not affected. Either party may ask for a review of the decision within 14 days on the grounds set out in the Scheme Rules. Goodwill awards in adjudication are capped at £5,000.

Complaint Resolution is a negotiation service where HSCAMP works with both the provider and the patient to reach a mutually agreeable settlement when the clinic’s own response has not been accepted. We assess the complaint’s merits, tell the clinic candidly what a court would make of it, and propose a settlement that reflects that. It is less detailed than adjudication, the outcome is non-binding unless both parties accept, and it aims to resolve the complaint quickly and without high costs for the provider. Most complaints are resolved this way.

Most complaints can be resolved between the clinic and the patient. What stops them is trust. A patient does not believe the clinic’s explanation because they know the clinic is defending itself, so everything the clinic says, however fair, sounds like self-justification. The clinic, for its part, hears only an accusation and digs in.

A mediator sits between the two. HSCAMP looks at both sides of the argument, the patient’s complaint and the clinic’s records and response, and says plainly where each side has part of the argument right. When a patient hears from someone who is not the clinic that part of their complaint is justified, they become far more willing to accept that other parts are not. When the clinic hears an objective view of the legal risk, it can make a fair offer at the right figure instead of a bare refusal.

This is the key HSCAMP service and the one we have been most successful with. Most cases are resolved by settlement after our review of the file, and very few have needed a formal adjudication or the courts. The review is objective and court standard whoever it helps: if a complaint has merit we say so and propose a settlement that reflects it, and if it has no merit we say that too, with reasons the clinic can rely on.

Before HSCAMP, ISCAS and the Cosmetic Redress Scheme (CRS) predominantly serviced the complaint resolution market for independent providers. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, any organisation that acts as an independent third party between a patient and a clinic must be accredited by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, with a transition period to 7 January 2027 for schemes not yet accredited. HSCAMP is applying for accreditation.

Price. HSCAMP: Bronze £250 and Gold £1,050 a year plus VAT, with published case prices (Complaint Opinion £195, Complaint Resolution £495, Adjudication £1,800 for Bronze, all plus VAT, with goodwill awards in adjudication capped at £5,000). ISCAS does not publish its subscription fees; its 2025/26 annual report puts the average adjudication cost at £1,330.58, before its administration fee and subscription. The Cosmetic Redress Scheme costs £15 a year for a single practitioner, with £80 for a recommendation or £150 for a decision, plus VAT.

What they cover. HSCAMP and ISCAS consider complaints about treatment outcomes. The Cosmetic Redress Scheme does not deal with dissatisfaction with results, injury or medical negligence, and its outcomes are not binding.

How they work. HSCAMP works to settle a complaint early through Complaint Resolution, with medical input on every case, and aims to decide adjudications within 28 working days of receiving the complete file, and within 90 days at most. HSCAMP is the only one of the three that also gives members its own clinic software, the Clinic Portal and HSCAMP AI. See the full comparison at Compare Complaint Schemes.

HSCAMP membership is an annual subscription. Bronze is £250 plus VAT a year and Gold is £1,050 plus VAT a year. Membership runs for the calendar year to 31 December and is paid annually in advance, so the annual fee is not cancellable or refundable once paid. It does not renew automatically: before the end of the year we send a renewal invoice and you choose whether to continue. HSCAMP Plus and HSCAMP Ultra, the AI add ons, are different: they are charged monthly, so you can cancel them in the current month and nothing further is charged.

There are 2 tiers.

Bronze: £250 plus VAT a year. Includes your own Clinic Portal, an independent complaints route (CTSI accreditation in progress), HSCAMP AI with 10 AI questions a month (Complaint Brain, Clinic Insights, Morning Brief and Clinic Protect), the Reputation Tracker, and our complaint letters, policies and guides. You pay per case only when you ask us to act.

Gold: £1,050 plus VAT a year. Everything in Bronze plus 1 free Complaint Opinion, 1 free Complaint Resolution a year, and lower case rates: Opinion £140, Resolution £350 and Adjudication £1,300, all plus VAT.

From 6 April 2026 the alternative dispute resolution provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 apply to consumer disputes, with a transition period to 7 January 2027 for schemes not yet accredited. Any organisation that sits between a patient and a clinic as an independent third party to resolve a complaint must be accredited by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), the body Parliament has appointed to approve and supervise dispute resolution schemes. The same Act, at section 308, requires every clinic to tell a patient at the end of a complaint what alternative dispute resolution is available to them.

HSCAMP is applying for accreditation so that it can continue to act for members and can be named in your complaint outcome letters. The accreditation fees are set by the CTSI, and an accredited body must show the CTSI that it is funded to run the scheme properly. Bronze, at £250 plus VAT a year, keeps that cost as low as possible: you pay a small annual fee and pay per case only when you ask us to act.

The membership fee is fixed. Case work is charged per case, only when you ask us to act:

• Complaint Opinion: £195 plus VAT per case (Gold: £140)
• Complaint Resolution: £495 plus VAT per case (Gold: £350)
• Adjudication: £1,800 plus VAT per case (Gold: £1,300)

Gold members also receive 1 Complaint Opinion and 1 Complaint Resolution free each year.

The annual membership fee covers the whole calendar year, so once paid it is not cancellable or refundable. HSCAMP Plus and HSCAMP Ultra, the AI add ons, are charged monthly: you can cancel them in the current month and they run to the end of the month you have paid for.

On successful registration you receive a welcome email with the HSCAMP Service Agreement, your invoice and the address and passcode for your private clinic portal at portal.hscamp.co.uk. Once you have signed the agreement your portal is activated, and you can log complaints, send a matter to HSCAMP and see the progress of every case in one place.

Every clinic must tell a patient at the end of a complaint what alternative dispute resolution is available to them. You have 4 routes.

No external route. You run your own complaints process and your outcome letters must state that no alternative dispute resolution arrangement is available. That is lawful, but CQC guidance asks providers without an independent review stage to consider adding one, and it leaves the courts, or a no win no fee solicitor, as the patient’s only next step.

ISCAS. An independent adjudication scheme owned by CEDR, with a 3 stage process. Its subscription fees are not published, and its adjudicators can recommend goodwill payments of up to £5,000.

The Cosmetic Redress Scheme (CRS). A low cost scheme that handles service and consumer law complaints but does not deal with dissatisfaction with results, injury or medical negligence. Its outcomes are not binding.

HSCAMP. An independent route that looks at the complaint early, before positions harden, with medical input, and works with the clinic and the patient to settle it fairly. Most complaints settle after our review, and very few need adjudication. Where a complaint does go to adjudication, goodwill awards are capped at £5,000; settlements agreed through Complaint Resolution are not capped. HSCAMP is the only one of these routes that also includes its own clinic software. Once accredited, HSCAMP is the route you can name in your outcome letters. A clinic can belong to HSCAMP and another scheme, as long as its complaints policy makes clear which scheme patients should use.

The Clinic Portal is your clinic’s private online area, included with membership. How much it does depends on how you use it. On its own it is where you manage complaints and keep your complaint handling policy, templates and patient lifetime value calculator. Connect it to your booking system and it also works for your clinic every day: Clinic Insights shows where revenue is slipping, the Clinic Agent finds the patients who need a message and drafts it for you, and the Morning Brief lays out each day’s patients. Your Reputation Tracker, membership certificate, Service Agreement and Partner offers are all in the same place.

Log a complaint the day it arrives, with the patient, the treatment, what went wrong and the records and correspondence that go with it. It stays private and time stamped on your own system until you press Send to HSCAMP. From then on you follow each stage on the same screen: Complaint Review, where HSCAMP gives its Complaint Opinion; Mediation, where we work with you and the patient towards a settlement; and Adjudication, where an independent adjudicator issues a written decision if the complaint cannot be settled. The patient lifetime value calculator helps you judge whether a goodwill payment to keep a patient makes sense.

Yes. It plugs into the booking system or CRM you already use, such as Pabau, Phorest, Cliniko and others, and reads your appointments, treatments and patients. It works alongside your system rather than replacing it, and turns the information you already hold into clear metrics and ready to send messages. The connection is set up under Manager in the portal, and HSCAMP will help you through it.

Clinic Insights turns your booking data into clear metrics: revenue, appointments, returning patients, patients due back with nothing booked, patient value, complaints and the money the portal has helped you recover, over any period you choose, with a Manager Brief that puts what needs your attention first. The Clinic Agent reads those results with you. Ask it in plain English why revenue dipped or which treatment is losing patients, and it answers from your own figures. It also finds the patients worth contacting, those due back for a repeat treatment, those who have lapsed, those who cancelled and never rebooked, and happy patients you could ask for a review, and drafts an email for each one. You read it, change anything you like and send it from your own email. Nothing is sent without you.

You decide who signs in under People And Access. Each person uses their own work email and the clinic password, a code is emailed to finish, and a device can be trusted for 30 days. The portal is private to your clinic: a complaint you keep on your own system cannot be seen by HSCAMP until you send it, and your booking data is used only for your own clinic’s insights and messages.

Partners are savings HSCAMP has arranged for member clinics, found under Partners in your Clinic Portal. The first is Trilo: patients pay straight from their bank by link or QR code, with no card fees, and the money arrives instantly, while patients who prefer a card can still use one. Upload your card machine statement in the portal to see an estimate of what you could save. More partners will be added.