Resources for care providers

Below are some resources to help with good complaint handling in your organisation. This includes guidance, template letters and a model complaint procedure.

Guidance reports - lessons from complaints

Good record keeping - guidance for care providers Caring about Complaints: lessons from our independent care provider investigations

Funded Nursing Care payments - guidance for care providers (PDF)

My Expectations for Raising Concerns and Complaints - research into patient and service user expectations of good complaint handling in health and social care (PDF)

See also: Adult social care annual complaint reviews - the state of adult social care complaints, including our statistics for care providers and councils

Template procedures and signposting guides

Template complaint procedure - a ready written document to adapt (DOC)

Complaint management checklist - ensure your complaint procedure covers everything it should (DOCX)

Signpost to the Ombudsman and CQC - how to tell people of their right to come to the Ombudsman (DOCX)

How to handle complaints - guidance and template letters

How to... guides

How to write a decision letter (PDF)

How to write an apology (PDF)

Template letters to adapt

Initial letter (DOCX)

Holding letter (DOCX)

Final decision letter (DOCX)

Information sheets - FAQs for providers

Adult social care complaints – frequently asked questions

Premature adult social care complaints – frequently asked questions

Training for care providers

Our Online Effective Complaint Handling Training is a practical interactive workshop for councils and care providers that helps participants develop their complaint handling skills.

Our in-house and open courses are aimed at staff dealing with complaints at the higher stages of the process, such as managers and corporate complaints officers, and staff who investigate and make decisions about complaints. For more information, visit the Training page.

Posters and other material

Care providers poster (PDF)

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