Complaints procedure

If something has gone wrong, we want to know, and we want to put it right. This page says how to complain, what happens next, and where to go if you are not satisfied with our answer.

Raising a concern

Most issues are resolved quickly with the person concerned, often at the time they arise, and that is a good first step. If that is not possible, or you would rather not, you can make a formal complaint. Please do so as soon as you can, ideally within a few days, with as much detail as you can give, because that helps us establish what happened. We ask that complaints reach us within 12 months of the event, or within 12 months of your becoming aware of it; where there was good reason for the delay and it is still possible to investigate, we will still consider it.

How to complain

You can complain in person, by telephone, by email or in writing, whichever suits you. Email complaints@gpdq.co.uk, call 0203 805 1781 between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, or write to the Customer Complaints Team, GPDQ Limited, 727-729 High Road, London N12 0BP. If you have hearing or speech difficulties, you can use Relay UK on your smartphone or textphone. If you need help to make a complaint, or need it in another language or format, tell us and we will arrange it.

You can ask someone to complain for you. If the complaint concerns someone else's care, we need that person's written consent before we can discuss their care, or evidence that you have the legal authority to act for them where they cannot consent themselves, and we protect their confidentiality throughout.

What happens next

We acknowledge every complaint within 3 working days and aim to respond in full within 10 working days. If the investigation takes longer, we tell you within 10 working days and give you a projected date. Where an investigation is still open after 20 working days, we write to you to explain why, and you receive our formal reply within 5 working days of a conclusion being reached.

Complaints are investigated confidentially and impartially by someone not involved in the matter complained about. Where the investigation finds that something went wrong, we take the action needed to put it right for you and to stop it happening again, and our response tells you what that action is. Making a complaint will never affect the care or service you receive from us.

We record every complaint and review what we receive, how many and about what, so that we learn from them. Themes are reported to our clinical governance meeting and to the board.

If you are a client organisation

A complaint about the service we provide to your organisation can be raised with your GPDQ account lead at any time, and the dispute procedure in your client agreement applies to it. You can also use this procedure, and we handle it in the same way and to the same timescales.

If you are not satisfied with our response

You can ask us to review the response, and you can take your complaint to an independent body. Which one depends on who commissioned the service, and our final response tells you the route that applies to yours.

If the care was commissioned by the NHS, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman at Millbank Tower, 30 Millbank, London SW1P 4QP, telephone 0345 015 4033, www.ombudsman.org.uk. If it was commissioned by a local authority, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at www.lgo.org.uk. Your local Healthwatch (www.healthwatch.co.uk) and the NHS complaints advocacy service in your area can support you in making a complaint, though they do not decide it.

If the care was paid for privately, by you, your employer or your insurer, our final response tells you the independent review route available for that service.

We are regulated by the Care Quality Commission. The CQC does not investigate individual complaints, but it wants to hear about the quality of care from the people who receive it. Telephone 03000 616161, email enquiries@cqc.org.uk, www.cqc.org.uk.

If your complaint is about how we have handled your personal data and you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Who is responsible

Our Chief Medical Officer is responsible for the handling of clinical complaints, and our Chief Operating Officer for complaints about service delivery. Both see every complaint that reaches a formal response.

This procedure was last reviewed on 17 September 2026 and is reviewed at least once a year.