We are responsible for checking that anyone who provides a healthcare service (NHS or private/independent) in Wales meets the required standards of quality & safety.
Even though our statutory role does not routinely include investigating individual concerns or complaints or the particular circumstances of a patient’s care and treatment, we would still like to hear from you if you have concerns about healthcare services.
We keep a record of all the concerns and complaints reported to us and we regularly monitor this information so we can establish an overall picture of the quality and safety of health services. You can provide feedback about a healthcare service using the form below.
The exception to this may be complaints from people (or their representatives) whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act and other relevant laws about the way healthcare staff have used their powers.
Further detail as to how we use this information can be found in our ‘Concerns and Complaints about Health Services in Wales’ leaflet.
Feedback about HIW concerns process
We aim to provide a quality service in dealing with people’s concerns. Please give feedback about your experiences of the concerns process by completing our short questionnaire. This will help us monitor and, where possible, identify ways that the concerns process can be improved.
Your response will be treated anonymously.
If you have a complaint about NHS services
If you have a concern about NHS services you have received from your hospital, General Practitioner (GP), dentist, pharmacist or optician, please read the ‘Putting Things Right’ leaflet to find out who you need to contact. All NHS organisations in Wales must deal with your concern with openness and honesty, conduct a thorough and appropriate investigation and provide you with a prompt acknowledgement and detailed response about how to take the matter forward.
If you have a complaint about Independent Healthcare (private or voluntary organisations)
Contact the person or organisation who provides the service. By law they must have a procedure for dealing with patients’ complaints.
You can also share your concerns with us. We cannot investigate your complaint but we can check that the service is meeting the regulations and standards as set out in the terms of their registration with us.
If you experience any difficulties using the form below, please email us directly: hiw@gov.wales