Complaints Policy

You may complain about matters including:

• The care, consultation or treatment you received.
• The conduct or communication of a practitioner or staff member.
• Appointment booking, cancellation or administration.
• Charges, payments or refunds.
• Clinic facilities or accessibility.
• Information provided on our website.
• How we collected, used, stored or shared your personal information.
• A failure to make an agreed reasonable adjustment.
• How an earlier concern or complaint was handled.

You do not need to use legal or technical language. Please explain what happened in your own words.

Some concerns can be resolved quickly by speaking to a member of the clinic team. If you feel comfortable doing so, please raise the matter as soon as possible. We will listen, clarify the issue and try to resolve it promptly.

You may make a formal complaint immediately if you prefer. Attempting informal resolution is not a requirement and does not affect your right to complain formally.

Formal complaints should be sent by email to:

contactus@aurmskin.com

Please use the subject line “Formal Complaint” where possible.

To help us investigate, please include:

• Your full name and preferred contact details.
• The date and approximate time of the event.
• The appointment or treatment concerned.
• The name of any practitioner or staff member involved, if known.
• A clear description of what happened.
• Any relevant correspondence, photographs, receipts or other information.
• The outcome you would like us to consider.

You do not have to provide every item above. We will not refuse to consider a complaint simply because some information is unavailable.

We want our complaints process to be accessible.

If you need help making a complaint or require information in an alternative format, please contact us. We will consider reasonable support such as:

• Accepting a complaint in another appropriate format.
• Providing information in plain text or large print.
• Communicating through a representative or advocate.
• Making reasonable communication adjustments.

Please tell us what would help you.

A relative, friend, carer, advocate or other representative may complain on someone else’s behalf.

We may need the patient’s written consent before sharing confidential information with the representative. Different arrangements may apply where the patient is a child, lacks capacity, has died or where a safeguarding concern exists.

We will explain any consent or identity information we reasonably require.

You may make a complaint anonymously. We will investigate it as far as reasonably possible.

However, anonymity may limit our ability to verify what happened, ask follow-up questions, share the outcome or take certain actions.

We will normally:

• Acknowledge the complaint within three working days.
• Confirm our understanding of the issues and ask for clarification if needed.
• Assess whether any urgent clinical, safety or safeguarding action is required.
• Appoint an appropriate person to investigate.
• Review relevant records, correspondence and other evidence.
• Speak to relevant staff or practitioners.
• Provide a written outcome.

The person investigating will be appropriately senior and, where reasonably possible, will not be the person whose actions are the main subject of the complaint.

We aim to provide a full written response within 20 working days of receiving the complaint.

Complex complaints may take longer, particularly where we need clinical input, information from a third party or additional evidence. If we cannot respond within 20 working days, we will explain the reason for the delay, provide an update and give a revised expected response date. If immediate action is required to protect a patient or another person, we will not wait for the full investigation to finish before taking appropriate steps.

Our written response will normally include:

• A summary of the complaint.
• The steps taken to investigate it.
• The information considered.
• Our findings and reasons.
• Any action already taken or planned.
• Details of how to request a review if you remain dissatisfied.

Where appropriate, the outcome may include:

• An explanation or apology.
• Correcting inaccurate information or records.
• Further staff training or supervision.
• Changes to a policy, process or website.
• A repeat service, refund or other remedy where justified.
• Referral to an insurer, safeguarding body, professional regulator or other appropriate organisation.

Making a complaint does not guarantee a particular result or financial remedy.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may request an internal review by emailing contactus@aurmskin.com.

Please request the review within 20 working days of receiving our response and explain:

• Which part of the outcome you disagree with.
• Why you believe the conclusion or process was incorrect.
• Any relevant information that was not previously considered.

Where reasonably possible, the review will be conducted by someone who was not responsible for the original investigation. We aim to provide the review outcome within 20 working days. If more time is required, we will explain why and provide a revised response date.

The review response will normally complete our internal complaints process.

The complaints process is not an emergency medical service.

If you experience an unexpected treatment reaction or have an urgent clinical concern, contact the clinic promptly using the aftercare or emergency instructions provided to you.

For urgent medical advice, contact NHS 111 where available. In a life-threatening emergency, call 999 or attend the nearest accident and emergency department.

If a complaint suggests that a person may be at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, or that a criminal offence or serious professional concern may have occurred, we may need to share relevant information with an appropriate authority.

Where lawful and appropriate, this may include a safeguarding team, police, insurer, healthcare professional, professional regulator or other responsible body.

We will share only information that is reasonably necessary and handle it in accordance with applicable confidentiality and data-protection requirements.

Complaints will be handled sensitively and shared only with people who reasonably need the information to investigate, respond, obtain advice or meet a legal, regulatory or safety obligation.

We will keep an appropriate record of:

• The complaint.
• Our acknowledgement and correspondence.
• The investigation and evidence considered.
• The findings and response.
• Any corrective or improvement action taken.

Complaint records will be retained in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable legal, regulatory, professional and insurance requirements.

Clinical information relevant to a complaint may also remain part of the patient’s clinical record.

Complaints about personal information may include concerns about:

• How information was collected or used.
• Accuracy or security of information.
• A data breach.
• Direct marketing.
• The handling of a request to access, correct or delete information.

We will acknowledge and handle data-protection complaints within applicable legal time limits.

If you remain dissatisfied after raising a data-protection concern with us, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ Telephone: 0303 123 1113

If you remain dissatisfied after completing our internal process, other routes may be available depending on the treatment, practitioner and subject of the complaint.

These may include:

• The relevant practitioner’s professional regulator.
• An applicable independent complaints or adjudication service.
• Citizens Advice for consumer guidance.
• The Information Commissioner’s Office for data-protection matters.
• The Care Quality Commission, where the service is within its regulatory remit.

The Care Quality Commission does not normally investigate or resolve individual complaints on a patient’s behalf, but it accepts information about people’s experiences of regulated care and uses that information in its monitoring work. We will provide details of any external route known to apply when issuing our final response.

Using this process does not prevent you from obtaining independent legal advice or exercising your statutory rights.

We understand that complaints can involve upsetting experiences and strong feelings. We will remain professional and respectful throughout the process and ask complainants to do the same.

We will not restrict a person’s right to complain because they are persistent or because their complaint is difficult.

However, we may take proportionate steps to protect patients and staff if communication becomes abusive, discriminatory, threatening or persistently excessive. Any communication arrangement will address the behaviour rather than the substance of the complaint, and the complaint will continue to be considered fairly wherever possible.

We periodically review complaints and outcomes to identify recurring concerns, safety issues and opportunities for improvement.

Where a complaint identifies a failure, we will take necessary and proportionate corrective action and monitor whether that action has been effective.

Patient-identifying information will not be used in general reporting unless there is a lawful and necessary reason.

To make a complaint or request assistance with the process, contact:

The AURM Clinic Email: contactus@aurmskin.com United Kingdom