Spotlight on sepsis: your stories, your rights report

Before you make a complaint, you could share your views and experiences with a member of staff. Many problems can be sorted out quickly by telling staff about your concerns at the place where you received care. This could be your doctor. Feel confident in raising your concerns. Staff should welcome your feedback because it can help to improve services.

If you want help and advice about making a complaint, there are lots of organisations that can support you. For example, you can speak to your local Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), the Patients Association or your local Healthwatch.

If you want to make a formal complaint, it is best to do this as soon as possible and you must do this within 12 months of what happened. You can complain to the NHS organisation you are not happy with (such as a hospital or GP practice). Or you can complain to the commissioner of the service, which will either be NHS England or your local integrated care board.

NHS organisations all have their own complaints process, and you can usually find this on their website, at reception, or by asking staff. If your complaint is about more than one organisation, you only need to make one complaint. The organisation that receives your complaint will work with the others to make sure you get a coordinated response.

After you have sent your complaint, the organisation should contact you within three working days to say they have received it. They should explain what will happen next, how they will handle your complaint and how long it will take.

The organisation must deal with your complaint properly and investigate it as quickly as they can. Some complaints will take longer than others. Communication is really important - they must keep you updated throughout the process so you know what is happening.

The organisation should respond to your complaint in writing. This should tell you how they carried out the investigation and what they found. If they have made mistakes, they should apologise to you. They should explain any lessons learned or changes they will make to put things right.

If you are not happy with how the NHS handled your complaint, you can speak to us to look into it. As the national Ombudsman for the NHS in England, we work to inspire a better relationship between people and public services. We aim to encourage a relationship based on decency, honesty and respect where people are put first. We are an independent organisation and we do not take sides. Our service is free.

You can complain to us if:

• you have reached the end of the NHS complaints process and you still feel the issue has not been sorted out
• the organisation has not dealt with your complaint after six months (unless it has explained why it is taking a long time and given you an expected completion date).

There are time limits for making your complaint to us, and these are set out in law. For complaints about the NHS, make sure you get it to us within a year of when you became aware of the problem you are complaining about. Our website has more information about what we will do if we receive a complaint outside these time limits.

Find out more about how to complain to us and how we deal with complaints.