Our complaints handling procedure tells you how we will handle your complaint and how long it is likely to take. It also provides important information about what you can do if you are not happy with the way we are handling your complaint or with our final decision.
Designated Complaints Handler
If you have any concerns about our service, work, or charges, you should discuss these first with the individual with day-to-day control of your matter. If this person cannot satisfactorily address your concerns and you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Designated Complaints Handler, Caroline Moore.
Contact our Designated Complaints Handler through one of the methods below:
- Write to Caroline at Medical Solicitors, Unit 3, Acorn Business Park, Sheffield S8 0TB
- Send an email to caroline@medical-solicitors.com
Time Limits for Complaints
Please note that we do not accept complaints made more than three years after you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
Step One: Acknowledging Your Complaint
Within two working days of receiving your complaint, it will be recorded in our Complaints Register, and a separate file will be opened in which we will store any correspondence and other documents relating to it. Within two working days, we will also send you a letter acknowledging your complaint.
Step Two: Investigating Your Complaint
Within five working days of receiving your complaint, we will review your file(s) and any other relevant documentation and send you a letter telling you how we propose to deal with your complaint. Examples of what we might say in this letter are as follows:
- If your complaint is straightforward, we might make suggestions as to how we can put things right, or we may offer you some form of redress;
- If your complaint is more complicated, we might ask you to confirm, explain or clarify any issues;
- We may ask to meet with you to discuss things face-to-face and we would hope to be in a position to meet with you no longer than fourteen working days after first receiving your complaint;
- If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within an agreeable timescale, we will write to you with our views on the situation and suggest how we can put things right. We may ask you to confirm, explain or clarify any issues. Within three working days of any meeting, we will write to you again to confirm what took place and to confirm any offer of redress that we have made.
Whichever form our investigation takes, we will aim to give you our final decision within six weeks of receiving your complaint.
Step Three: Appealing Against Our Final Decision
If you are dissatisfied with our final decision, please let us know, and we will review our decision again. We will let you know the result of any review within five working days of receiving your appeal and will then confirm your options in writing. If you remain dissatisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint. We will also advise you whether we are prepared to engage in alternative mediation methods.
Step Four: The Legal Ombudsman
You may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman provided you do so within six months of the end of this Complaints Handling Procedure.
In addition, time limits apply to the date you first became aware or should have become aware of the problem causing your complaint. The relevant time limits are set out in the version of the Legal Ombudsman’s Scheme Rules in force from time to time (which can also be obtained by contacting the Legal Ombudsman using the contact details provided below) and may only be extended by the Legal Ombudsman in exceptional circumstances.
The Scheme Rules state that you must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than:
- A year from the act/omission; or
- A year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
Ordinarily, you cannot use the Legal Ombudsman unless you have first attempted to resolve your complaint using our internal Complaints Handling Procedure. However, you will be able to contact the Legal Ombudsman if:
- The complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks of first making the complaint to us; or
- The Legal Ombudsman decides that there are exceptional reasons why the Legal Ombudsman should consider your complaint sooner or without you having to use our internal Complaints Handling Procedure first; or
- The Legal Ombudsman considers that your complaint cannot be resolved using our internal Complaints Handling Procedure because the relationship between you and us has broken down irretrievably.
If you wish to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must be one of the following:
- An individual;
- A micro-enterprise as defined in European Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 (broadly, an enterprise with fewer than 10 staff and a turnover or balance sheet value not exceeding €2 million);
- A charity with an annual income of less than £1 million;
- A club, association or society with an annual income of less than £1 million;
- A trustee of a trust with a net asset value less than £1 million; or
- A personal representative or the residuary beneficiaries of an estate where a person with a complaint died before referring it to the Legal Ombudsman.
If you are not, you should be aware that you can only obtain redress by using our Complaints Handling Procedure, mediation, arbitration, or Court action.
Legal Ombudsman Contact Details:
Address:
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Complaints about Our Professional Conduct or Behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could include dishonesty, taking or losing your money, or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristics.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Solicitors Regulation Authority Contact Details:
Address: The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Telephone: The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s contact centre’s number is 0370 606 2555
Email: report@sra.org.uk
Website: www.sra.org.uk