We make final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved
between individuals and the NHS in England,
UK government departments
and some UK public organisations.
And we do this fairly without taking sides.
We were set up by Parliament
to provide an independent complaint handling service
so we are not part of the Government or the NHS.
Our service is free for everyone.
If you believe that the NHS
or a UK government department has made a mistake
or provided a poor service,
and you have not had a proper response to your complaint,
we may be able to help.
We can look at complaints about NHS organisations
ike hospitals, GP surgeries
and NHS dental practices.
We can also investigate complaints about public organisations
like the DVLA,
Job Centre Plus, and the Home Office
as well as many other less well known organisations,
like the rural payments agency for example.
There are lots more organisations we can look into
and you can find a list of these on our website.
There are also some organisations that we can't look at,
usually because somebody else is in charge
of investigating complaints about them.
This includes Members of Parliament,
and political parties,
local councils,
social care and housing.
We also can't investigate complaints about private healthcare
- unless it was funded by the NHS.
We will always do our best to help,
but if we can't look at your complaint
then we will point you in the right direction.
You can make a complaint to us by using the form on our website.
Or you can call us.
You should normally complain to the organisation you are unhappy with first,
so it has a chance to put things right.
It's best to do this as soon as possible.
If you believe there is still a dispute about your complaint
after the organisation has responded,
you can ask us to look into it.
If we decide there were no failings,
or that there were but the organisation
has done the right thing to resolve the complaint,
we will explain why.
If we find the organisation has got it wrong,
we say so and we may make recommendations
for it to put its mistakes right.
This might include an explanation,
an apology,
a payment
or other action to address your complaint.
We can also ask the organisation to show how it would learn from the complaint
and improve its service.
When you want to make a complaint about a government department
or other public organisation,
then you have to ask an MP to bring it to us.
You can find out how to do that on our website
or call us for advice.
If your complaint is about the NHS
then you can bring it to us yourself using our online complaint form.
Once we receive a complaint
it moves through a process that we call an assessment.
To find out more
watch our “What happens when we receive your complaint” film.
For more information about how we could help
or to make a complaint,
please get in touch.
visit www.ombudsman.org.uk
or call 0345 015 4033
