Confidentiality

Will anyone know I have contacted the Hospital Advice and Complaints Service?

No - our service is a confidential NHS service. We will not speak to anyone about you unless we have your permission to do so, except where this may affect your own or someone else’s health and safety.

If you are a relative, carer or friend, we will need to have the permission of the patient concerned to investigate the issue before we can proceed. We are required to maintain patient confidentiality at all times.

No mention of the reason for your contact with the Hospital Advice and Complaints Service is made in any patient records. Your enquiry can remain anonymous. Hospital Advice and Complaints Service staff make a record of all enquiries we have dealt with, including anonymous enquiries.

We use this information regularly to compile reports about the work we are doing and the issues that people are raising with us, but we take care to ensure that no individuals can be identified from the reports we produce.

Information about you may be held in our database and at any time you may see the information the Hospital Advice and Complaints Service hold about you. We are registered under the Data Protection Act for this purpose.

Email – please try to avoid giving clinical or personal information when emailing the hospital. We will require a telephone number to contact you on to protect your right to confidentiality.