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Using Lay Conciliators
About the role of lay conciliators within the NHS Complaints Procedure.
1. The Role of the Lay Conciliator
The Primary Care Trust uses a professional conciliator service to help resolve complaints when patients and their GP, dentist, optician or pharmacist cannot reach agreement. Lay conciliators can also help in resolving complaints about services provided by the Primary Care Trust.
Lay conciliators are independent and impartial. They do not act for either the patient or the practitioner but can help the parties involved to reach agreement on outstanding issues.
2. When is a Lay Conciliator needed?
If someone is unhappy with the NHS treatment or care they have received, then they should initially inform someone at the practice, dispensary or clinic where the problem occurred. If they are unhappy with the explanation provided, then they can ask the Primary Care Trust to intervene. However, the Primary Care Trust cannot investigate these complaints directly.
In these cases, the Primary Care Trust may offer the services of a lay conciliator. The lay conciliator will try to resolve the complaint by acting as a ‘go-between’ for the two parties. Their role is to help the parties find a solution that satisfies both the patient and the practitioner.
Practitioners may also request the services of lay conciliators when experiencing difficulties resolving patient complaints.
3. The Procedure
Lay conciliators:
- will contact the patient and or patient’s representative to find out their issues
- will contact the practitioner to find out their issues
- may need to talk further with the patient, patient’s representative and practitioner – this may be by telephone or face-to-face
- may need to ask for additional information from a healthcare professional
- will facilitate, where appropriate, a joint meeting between the patient and/or patient’s representative and the practitioner
If you remain unhappy at the end of the conciliation process, then you can escalate your concerns to the Health Service Ombudsman. Advice on how to do this will be available from the Compliments and Complaints Team.
4. Confidentiality
All discussions and correspondence are treated in the strictest confidence.
All lay conciliators are highly trained and experienced in working to resolve disputes.
The Primary Care Trust uses both male and female conciliators, so if you prefer to talk to someone of a certain gender it is possible to request this.
5. Obtaining the services
If you would like a lay conciliator to help resolve your complaint, or you would like further information, please contact:-
Compliments and Complaints Team
Tel: 0114 305 1094
This leaflet can also be made available in large print, braille, audio cassette and in the following languages:
Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Polish, Slovak, Somali and Urdu
Arrangements can be made at conciliation meetings for interpreting services to help complainants whose first language is not English or who need to communicate in other ways.
Download this information (95kb pdf, opens in a new window)
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