Complaints about care

You have a right to receive quality care at a standard that meets your needs. For most people, the care they receive will be just right. But if you or someone you love isn’t happy, there are things you can do to get it sorted.

Social care
Health care

Start by letting your care provider know you’re unhappy. This could be an informal conversation, or care providers should have a formal complaints procedure for you to tell them about your concerns. It’s a good idea to flag a problem if:

You’ve been given poor, inaccurate or confusing information about the service

You or your family haven’t been treated fairly

The quality of care is poor, and if you’re in a care home, the quality of the other services

Their complaints procedure is difficult to follow

Sadly, there are no guidelines that limit how much the cost of care services can go up by. So, while a complaint isn’t likely to help if prices go up, you should be given notice to give you time to find another service.
If your complaint to your care provider doesn’t get resolved, you can ask the Care Ombudsman for your country to step in and look into it. You have this option whether you’re paying for your own care or the local authority pays for you.

The things the Ombudsman can investigate include:

flaws in policies or decision making

poor administrative practice

failure to follow statutory guidelines (laws and regulations)

failing to consider properly the exceptional circumstances of an individual

not properly considering statutory powers or duties

failing to give an adequate service

If you’re worried about the quality of care you’ve received, you can also report your care provider to their regulator. They can’t look into your specific complaint, but they can record it and any other complaints they receive, which could trigger an inspection.
If you’re worried that you or someone receiving care is being treated badly, don’t ignore it. You can help by reporting your concerns to the Adult Social Care safeguarding team at your local authority. Or you can call Hourglass on their confidential helpline 0808 808 8141.

Abuse comes in lots of different forms, so it’s important that you know what to look out for.

Physical abuse – Includes assault, hitting, pushing, misuse of restraint or sedatives

Emotional abuse – Includes humiliation, harassment, verbal abuse, limiting access to support

Financial abuse – Includes having money or property stolen, being defrauded or ‘scammed’

Sexual abuse – Includes inappropriate touching and indecent exposure

Neglect – Includes ignoring medical, emotional or physical care needs

Find out more about how to protect older people from abuse
Should you need to raise a complaint regarding your time in hospital or medical treatment, in the first instance you may wish to speak to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). PALS offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters.

You can ask PALS to intervene on your behalf and try to resolve the issue informally and prevent it escalating to a formal complaint. If this is unsuccessful then PALS will advise you on the formal complaints procedure.

You must generally raise a formal complaint within 12 months of an event occurring, or within 12 months of the date you were first made aware of the issue.

If your complaint is not adequately resolved through either PALS or the formal complaints procedure, then you can escalate your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

You can search for your local PALS team on the NHS website.

Understanding mental capacity

Losing your mental capacity can be a daunting prospect, however the sooner you plan on how to deal with it, the more in control you can be.

Your mental capacity

Finding care

Whether you need some help at home or want to find out more about Care Homes in your area, we have information on where to search and what questions to ask.

Finding the right care

Care needs assessment

Your local authority could help you to get the right support in place, whether you’re in need of care yourself or looking after someone else.

Local authority assessments