The NHS likes to hear what patients and their families think about their care. This can be a nice comment, a question, a worry, or even a complaint if something went wrong. Each NHS place, like a hospital, has its own team to read and deal with this feedback.
If you have something you want to say about your care, you should tell the hospital or service that looked after you. They have their own rules for handling complaints, and special teams like PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) who are there to help you.
NHS Kent and Medway cannot see your medical notes and does not fix problems that happen — that's up to the hospital or service where you got your care.
If you want to say something good, ask a question, or complain about the care you got, you should contact the place that treated you. Hospitals have their own ways to help with complaints, and the PALS team can guide you if you need help.
At the bottom, there are contact details for some of the main hospitals in Kent and Medway.
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Darent Valley Hospital
Erith and District Hospital – Radiology Service
Gravesham Community Hospital – Outpatient Service
North Kent Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) – outpatient diagnostic service
Centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup - number of specialist services that are available to patients as part of our Planned Care
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital
Kent and Canterbury Hospital
William Harvey Hospital
Buckland Hospital
Royal Victoria Hospital
Estuary View
G4S Patient Transport Service, in partnership with the NHS in Kent and Medway
Non-emergency patient transport services.
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
Adult and Older Adult Mental Health Services
Albion Place Medical Centre, Maidstone
Archery House, Dartford
Bay Tree House, Maidstone
Bridge House, Maidstone
Britton House, Gillingham
Brookfield Centre, Dartford
Chris Ellis Centre, Sittingbourne
Darenth Wood Road, Dartford – Jasmine Ward
Eureka Place, Ashford
Highlands House, Tunbridge Wells
Invicta House, Maidstone
Kings Road Clinic, Herne Bay
Laurel House, Canterbury
Littlebrook Hospital
Medway Maritime Hospital - Disablement Services Centre
Medway Maritime Hospital - Newhaven Lodge Rehabilitation Unit
Priority House, Maidstone
St Martin’s Hospital, Canterbury
St Martin’s Hospital, Canterbury – Gregory House
St Stephen’s Health Centre, Ashford – East Kent Neuropsychiatry Service
Trevor Gibbens Unit, Maidstone
11 Ethelbert Road Rehabilitation Service
111 Tonbridge Road Rehabilitation Unit
Thanet Mental Health Unit, Margate – Woodchurch Ward
The Red House, Maidstone
The Beacon Centre, Ramsgate
Community nursing and therapy services in Kent.
Contact us - Kent County Council
Feedback and Complaints to local Councils, including social care, education, school transport housing, roads, pavements and travel, libraries and archives, environment, waste and recycling etc.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Maidstone Hospital
Tunbridge Wells Hospital
Community nursing and therapy services in Medway
Medway NHS Foundation Trust - NHS
Medway Maritime Hospital
For information about NHS England and complaints, please visit the following links:
NHS England » Feedback and complaints about NHS services
Whilst not exhaustive, the following is a list of services that NHS England central complaints team will retain the handling of after 1 April 2025:
- Health and Justice – for health services in prisons and other custodial settings
Armed Forces Health
- Section 7a (Public Health Immunisations and Vaccinations)
- Primary Care Support England (PCSE)
- Services delivered nationally by NHSE to patients/public (such as Screening Call and Recall, NHS App etc)
Children & Young People’s Mental Health Service (CYPMHS)
Children’s Learning Disabilities, Autism and ADHD
Adolescent Hospital
Eating Disorder Service
Kent Emotional Wellbeing Team and Medway Emotional Support Team
Kent Primary Care Network Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health practitioner (PCN MHP)
Kent and Medway Wheelchair Service | Ross Care
Kent and Medway Wheelchair Service
Welcome to South East Coast Ambulance Service | NHS
Emergency ambulance services (999)
NHS 111
GP out-of-hours services
Whilst NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) plans and buys many local health services, they are not responsible for investigating complaints regarding the provision of these services. The ICB does not have access to clinical records and are not responsible for complaint outcomes, learning or actions taken as a result of the complaint about the provision of services.
The ICB investigates and responds to complaints about the actions/decisions of the ICB.
Tell us about your experience
Positive Feedback, Comments, Enquiries, Compliments
Positive feedback is welcomed and helps us to understand what is important for you as a patient, carer or relative. Your feedback is valuable, and we are grateful for you taking the time. Please send any feedback or compliments to kmicb.patientexperience@nhs.net.
Complaints
NHS Kent and Medway is committed to responding to patient needs and encouraging a culture that seeks and uses people’s experiences of care to improve the commissioning of services.
We welcome your suggestions and feedback about both the services we commission and those we provide. We want to resolve any problems you may experience to help make local healthcare services more effective.
Our promise – What you can expect from us
We care – We will treat you with compassion.
We will act – Ensuring your feedback gets to the right place.
We will keep you updated – We will confirm how your complaint will be taken forward and advise any delays.
We will reflect – Striving to improve your experience and our process, through feedback, improvements, and innovation.
Please contact the Patient Experience Team at NHS Kent & Medway for feedback, queries, concerns or complaints regarding:
- Conduct of NHS Kent & Medway staff
- Services that NHS Kent & Medway provides (e.g. continuing healthcare, medicines management and individual funding requests)
- Services commissioned (arranged and contracted) by NHS Kent & Medway
If your concern, enquiry or complaint relates to care you have received from a GP, dentist, pharmacist or optician, the first step will be to contact them directly. Each provider has their own complaints procedures and they can help you with any problems that have arisen and can help with any complaints relating to their services.
Alternatively, NHS Kent and Medway ICB may be able to consider your about GP practices, dentists, pharmacists and opticians. If you do not want to contact the practice directly about your complaint or you are unsure what to do or who to contact, please get in touch with the Patient Experience Team at NHS Kent and Medway ICB, who will be able to be able to guide you on the best way forward with your complaint.
Please note that NHS Kent and Medway ICB are not able to progress a complaint that has already been raised with the provider of the service.
If you are unsure what to do or who to contact, please get in touch with the Patient Experience Team at NHS Kent & Medway, who will be able to guide you.
Contact details for NHS Kent and Medway Patient Experience Team:
- Email: kmicb.patientexperience@nhs.net
- Phone: 01634 335095 Option 7
- Post: Patient Experience Team, 2nd Floor, Gail House,
Lower Stone Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6NB
Office Hours are between 8:00am – 4:00pm excluding weekends and Bank Holidays.
In your correspondence, please could you ensure you have included your:
- Full name
- Postal address, email address and daytime telephone number
- The patient’s full name, date of birth and NHS number (if known), if you are complaining on behalf of someone else
- The patient’s consent for you to act on their behalf if you are making the complaint for them.
- The patient’s GP practice.
We also request that you confirm that you are happy for us to forward your concerns to the service that you are complaining about (if appropriate).
Please include as much detail in your complaint as possible, such as names of staff, locations, dates, and times of events, if you are able to. If you have specific questions that you want answers to, it is helpful for you to list them.
Telling us what outcome you are seeking will help us resolve your concerns to your satisfaction, wherever possible.
Please make your complaint as soon as possible, while memories are still fresh. You should normally complain within 12 months of the event(s) concerned or within 12 months of becoming aware that you have something to complain about. NHS organisations have discretion to waive this time limit if there are good reasons why you could not complain earlier, and an effective investigation can still be undertaken.
We aim to acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will advise on how your complaint is going to be investigated. This process may involve:
- Corresponding, speaking or meeting with you, where appropriate, to gain your personal view of the issues you have raised.
- Sharing your details with an outside organisation, such as other NHS providers of care or relevant organisations, with your permission. We will respect your right to confidentiality and treat any information you provide in strict confidence, handling this information in a safe and secure manner. However, there may be times when we need to share information without your consent, for example to protect children and vulnerable adults.
- Using your information for investigation of your complaint. In order for the ICB to make improvements to the services you receive, anonymous information about your complaint may be shared as part of our reporting process. If identifiable data is needed for other purposes, then your consent will be sought.
- NHS Complaints Standards require complaint investigations to be completed within six months and NHS Kent & Medway aims to respond within 30-40 working days from consent or clarity of issues when possible. Sometimes longer is required but we will let you know if there is going to be a delay and explain the reasons why, wherever possible.
- Once the investigation has been completed, you will receive our response, including any improvements that have been, or will be made, as a result of your complaint.
- If you are unhappy with the response to your complaint, you should contact the Patient Experience Team to see if the ICB can look into the case further, unless the response advises that local resolution of your complaint is concluded.
- You can withdraw your complaint at any stage of the process.
- Please be assured that your future care and treatment will not be negatively affected in any way because you have made your concerns known to us.
Complaint Advocacy
Making a complaint is not always easy to do. Independent complaint advocacy is available within Kent and Medway free of charge if you need independent advice or support with your NHS related complaint. A Complaint Advocate can represent your views when you are making a complaint about the NHS. They can help you write your complaint letter or write it on your behalf. They can accompany you to any meetings to discuss your complaint and provide support or provide an interpreter. The Advocacy People can help if you have difficulties with reading or writing.
For independent NHS complaints advocacy in Kent, please contact:
Name: The Advocacy People
Website: The advocacy people
Email: info@theadvocacypeople.org.uk
Phone: 0330 440 9000
For independent NHS complaints advocacy in Medway, please contact:
Name: Libra Partnership
Website: Libra partnership
Email: admin@librapartnership.co.uk
Phone: 01622 200806
Advocates are typically not legally trained so cannot support outside the scope of the Formal complaints process. You may find it of benefit to contact Action against medical accidents on 0345 123 2352 as they may be able to put you in touch with a solicitor if you are looking to sue for a medical negligence claim.
Healthwatch has been set up to give people a powerful voice locally and nationally. At a local level, Healthwatch is there to help people who live in the county get the best out of their local health and social care services, whether it is improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow. The contact details for Healthwatch within Kent and Medway are:
Name: Healthwatch Kent
Website: Healthwatch Kent
Email: info@healthwatchkent.co.uk
Phone: Freephone 0808 801 0102
Name: Healthwatch Medway
Website: Healthwatch Medway
Email: enquiries@healthwatchmedway.com
Phone: 0800 136 656
Between the hours of 10:00 – 16:00 Monday to Wednesday and Friday. They are closed Thursdays, weekends and Bank Holidays.
You have the right to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The Ombudsman is independent of the NHS, and they will decide if they are able to investigate your complaint.
The Ombudsman will normally only take on a complaint after you have first tried to resolve the complaint with the organisation involved and have received a response from them.
What to do if you are not happy with your healthcare (easy-read tips for making a complaint)
You can contact the PHSO using the following methods:
Website: Ombudsman website
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Phone: 0345 015 4033 – open 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday (charged at a local rate)
Post: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Citygate, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HQ
For information:
We are in the process of reviewing our current complaints policy, which is available at NHS K&M Complaints Handling Policy.
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