Complaints management
Chapter 5 – appeals
5.1Receiving and recording
Depending on the size of your practice, you may be able to offer an internal review of a complaint decision.
Where an internal appeal process exists, the person conducting the appeal should be more senior than the person who is the subject of the complaint and who conducted the first investigation.
The internal reviewer should receive all of the complaint and investigation material, and any representations from the client on why the initial decision was incorrect. The reviewer should be able to conduct further investigations if they consider that the initial investigation was insufficient.
You should send the client a further acknowledgement letter giving:
- the contact details of the reviewer
- the process to be followed
- timeframes for the appeal
Once the internal review is complete, you should tell the client what the decision is and what the external appeal options are.
5.2Mediation
You may consider offering a complaint to an independent mediator, especially where:
- a senior partner was already involved in the initial investigation – common in smaller practices
- the relationship with the client is particularly deteriorating
Involving a third party may reassure the client that the matter has been considered objectively. It also allows a practice to show that they are being proactive in resolving the complaint and may relieve them of the perceived or actual conflict faced in judging their own conduct. You may contact the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) for a referral to the Local Conciliations Officer scheme in your area.
Using an independent mediator will not preclude a client from going on to raise the complaint with an external agency. But the mediation and its outcome would be relevant to the external agency's consideration of how the practice tried to resolve the complaint.
You should make the following clear at the start of the process:
- the mediation terms
- how feedback from the mediation will be given
- timeframes for accepting the outcome of the mediation
5.3External referral
Depending on the type of complaint, the client may refer a matter to an external agency. This is not part of the practice's internal complaints management process, but you should advise the client of how to appeal and relevant contact details. You should sufficiently document your internal processes to be able to appropriately respond to such an appeal.