Complaints Officer: Miss Jessica Black
Complaints Correspondence Email: jess@drgracekelly.co.uk

In Writing: Complaints Officer, Dr Grace Kelly aesthetic skin clinic , 3, Church Lane House, Chalfont St Peter, SL9 9RE.

At Dr Grace Kelly aesthetic skin clinic, we endeavour to provide the very best service, care and compassion to all patients. However, if you have a complaint, we have a clear, comprehensive, and standardised complaints policy available to all clients.

We appreciate any feedback in assisting us to provide the very best service and care to all patients. Complaints relating to any treatments will be dealt with in accordance with our clinic guidelines and protocols set by our Medical Standards team.

Please address all complaints in writing (via post or email) to the General Manager who is the responsible “Complaints Officer” at Dr Grace Kelly aesthetic skin clinic. Please where possible include the following information which will allow us to best understand and investigate your complaint in a timely manner:

• If your complaint is related to service or is a clinical complaint or ‘other’
• Who or what has caused your concerns. If you are complaining about a member of staff, give their name and position (if you know it).
• Where and when the events took place.
• What action you have already taken, if any.
• What outcome you want from your complaint.
• Please include any supporting evidence such as photographs.

All complaints will receive a written acknowledgement within 2 working days of receipt of your complaint. The time limits for raising complaints are within 6 months from the treatment that you wish to raise concerns/complaints about. Unless there is an exceptional circumstance such as the concern / complaint not becoming apparent until after this time frame we are unable to extend these limits and complaints received after this time will be closed without investigation.

All written complaints will be reviewed and preliminary investigation will take place by a member of the managerial team who are not directly involved in your case, if it is determined that the threshold has not been reached for formal complaint investigation, you will be advised that the complaint has been closed without action within 7 working days. There is no right to appeal complaints where they have not met the threshold for investigation.

In the event that your complaint meets the threshold for investigation a complaints officer will be assigned to you. Your complaint will be investigated by the complaints officer who will be a member of the managerial team, who was not directly involved in your case and any parties involved will be asked to make a statement on your care and complaint. This will be reviewed against our clinic guidelines and protocols – expert opinion from our head therapist, medical director or a third party (e.g. equipment manufacturer / medical device manufacturer) may be obtained if required. When the complaint is of a clinical nature the case will be reviewed by our medical director (Dr Grace Kelly) and their findings incorporated in the complaint’s outcome. Where our medical director is directly involved in your care, the opinion of an associate medical director or an external medical advisor will be obtained.

A full complaints outcome will be issued to you in writing within 21 working days upon acknowledgement of your complaint. Where the investigation is still in progress by day 21, a letter explaining the reason for the delay will be sent to you with an agreed timescale to resolve the complaint.

I am not satisfied with my complaint outcome

If your complaint has met the threshold for investigation and you are not satisfied with the outcome of that complaint investigation and you are dissatisfied with your complaint’s outcome, you have the following options. Please be aware you have 10 working days from receiving to appeal.

• You can write to our office to request that an objective review of your complaint and/ or the way it was handled is conducted. You should state within this appeal letter which aspects of the complaint outcome you wish to appeal and the grounds for this with any additional supporting evidence. This will be conducted by a member of staff who has not been involved in the handling of the complaint up to that point and is not involved in the daily operation of the clinic.
• Following the above, if you remain unhappy with our final response to your complaint and the service provided, the following organisations can provide advice on the most appropriate next steps depending on the nature of your complaint: Citizens Advice (www.citizensadvice.org.uk) or obtain independent medical legal advice.

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