Contact Us
Tel: 0800 015 2331
Fax: 0113 242 1965
Emergency out of office hours:
Tel: 07699 711844
Complaints about healthcare
If the outcome of your medical treatment is not what you had hoped for, you may wish to make a complaint, in order to draw attention to what has gone wrong and to make sure the healthcare provider does not make the same mistake again.
It is not usually necessary to involve solicitors in making a complaint. You can make the complaint yourself. All hospital trusts carry details of their complaints procedures on their websites. However, if you are not confident that you will be able to make your complaint as effectively as you would like, help is available, free of charge, from the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service. In Yorkshire and the Humber, this service is provided by the Carers Federation Limited and they can be contacted by telephone on 0300 456 8350, e-mail icas@carersfederation.co.uk. Their website is www.carersfederation.co.uk.
Access to treatment
If a patient is denied access to treatment, a legal challenge may be possible. This is a complex field of law involving issues of fundamental important for patients and their families.
Under the Human Rights Act 1998, the European Convention on Human Rights is incorporated into the law of England and Wales. The provisions of the Convention can apply to issues of medical treatment in the NHS. The Convention imposes an obligation on the State to protect the right to life and in the medical field this may be relevant where treatment is refused or where withdrawal of treatment or feeding is advised. The Convention also prohibits degrading treatment, which might include experimental treatment without proper consent or a failure to provide proper treatment to people in detention or institutional care. The Convention prohibits discrimination and this may be relevant in any case in which treatment is refused on grounds of age or disability.
If you need more information then please contact us.
