Complaints Policy
May 2019
The Sexual Health Centre Ltd., 16 Peters Street, Cork, Ireland, T12 DX73
Website: www.sexualhealthcentre.com
Email: info@sexualhealthcentre.com
Tel: +353 21 427 5837
CHY 19919
Reg no.: 130615
The Sexual Health Centre Ltd. hereafter called the Sexual Health Centre is constantly working to improve its services. We value all feedback and appreciate complaints as well as compliments.
What is a complaint?
“A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by one or more members of the public about an organisation’s action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by or on behalf of the organisation”. (Office of the Ombudsman 2015)
What is the purpose of this policy?
This policy aims to provide you with the information you need to make a complaint or raise an issue with any service you may access via the Sexual Health Centre.
Who can make a complaint?
Any member of the public can make a complaint.
How can you make a complaint?
In Person: Talk to any member of Sexual Health Centre staff.
By Email: E-mail info@sexualhealthcentre.com with your feedback.
By Letter: Send a letter addressed to: Ms. Catherine Kennedy, Complaints Officer, Sexual Health Centre, 16 Peters Street, Cork
By Phone: 021 427 5837
How long do you have to make a complaint?
To help us deal with the cause of your complaint quickly, we ask that you make a complaint as soon as possible, and within 3 months of the incident.
What do you need to include in your complaint?
Please provide as much information as you can in your complaint either verbally or in writing, including your own contact details.
Specifically, it is important for us to know
Who was involved?
What happened and when?
What are you concerned about?
Have you done anything else to resolve this matter?
What do you want to happen now?
How will the Sexual Health Centre respond?
We aim to resolve a complaint at the earliest opportunity and preferably, at the first point of contact. We aim to reach local resolution within 5 working days and we record the complaint and the resolution.
Where this is not possible, our Complaints Officer will look into the issues raised. Where a verbal complaint cannot be resolved at point of contact, the staff member dealing with the complaint will refer it to the Complaints Officer.
How long will it take the Complaints Officer to look into your complaint?
The Complaints Officer will acknowledge your complaint, in writing, within 5 working days and look into your complaint within 30 working days of the date when it was acknowledged.
If it takes longer to look into all the issues raised in your complaint the Complaints Officer will notify you within 30 working days and will give you an update on what is happening every 20 working days after that.
When we have an outcome on your complaint we will inform you in person or by phone. At this stage we will give you details of how it has been managed.
What if you are not satisfied with the outcome?
You can take your complaint to the next stage of our complaints process within 4 weeks of being informed of the outcome.
What is the next stage?
The final stage is appeal on your complaint with the Executive Director. You must send a written request for a review of your case, stating why you are not satisfied.
The Executive Director will acknowledge your request within 5 working days. The Executive Director will review your complaint, the recommendations of the investigation team, all of the steps taken so far to deal with your complaint and the issues raised by it.
The Executive Director will inform you in writing of the outcome of the review and the reasons for this within 20 working days of receiving your request. The decision of the Executive Director is final.
What can the Sexual Health Centre do if my complaint is upheld?
The Sexual Health Centre will ensure there is an outcome from your complaint. These outcomes may include:
An explanation of what happened and whether a different approach can be taken in future.
An apology for any hurt, hardship or inconvenience caused.
Acceptance of responsibility for any mistake that may have occurred.
A review and improvement of our procedures and the services we offer.
Action taken to address the problem.
If you are not happy with the response from our Executive Director, you may get in touch again by writing to the Sexual Health Centre’s Chairperson via post at Chairperson, The Sexual Health Centre, 16 Peters St., Cork. The Chairperson will ensure that your appeal is considered and will respond within 4 weeks of consideration. If we cannot respond within the 4 weeks, we will explain why and provide a new deadline.
How we Record and Monitor Complaints
We retain a record of all complaints that are made to us and the steps that we have taken to deal with them. This means you can be sure if you make a complaint that the proper procedure has been followed and it has all been documented.
The Sexual Health Centre takes complaints very seriously and we constantly endeavour to improve our services.
How can I communicate my compliments to the Sexual Health Centre volunteers/staff?
We welcome positive feedback. We commit to communicate the compliments received to the appropriate person or persons identified.
Unreasonable behaviour
In a very small number of cases the complainants behaviour in persisting with their query/ies may become unreasonable. Unreasonable behaviour may take the form of:
unreasonable persistence in pursuing an argument that has already been addressed or re-framing the complaint to present it as a fresh complaint
unreasonable demands – examples include seeking an alternative decision on a case that can only be appealed further by taking the case to court, demanding that their case is not to be dealt with by a particular officer (where that officer is the most appropriate officer to deal with the case), demanding that the opening hours of the public office be changed to facilitate their requirements, etc.
unreasonable lack of co-operation – examples include making multiple queries in relation to the same issue to the same officer or to a number of officers and/or expecting an almost instantaneous response to correspondence
unreasonable arguments – examples include the customer presenting irrelevant arguments and/or insisting that their interpretation of legal or other issues should be accepted as fact
unreasonable behaviour – examples include threats of violence, abuse of Sexual Health Centre employees, rude or aggressive conduct, and threats of self-harm.
unreasonable volume of correspondence, phone calls and contact with the organisation or employees of the organisation.
Such cases can expend a disproportionate amount of time and resources that might be used more effectively.
If the unreasonable behaviour consists of abusive phone calls or repeated phone calls in relation to a matter that has already been dealt with or an issue relative to the matter, a record of the phone calls will be kept. Where the customer persists with an issue which has been fully dealt with or behaves in an unreasonable fashion, examples of which are described above, the matter will be referred to the relevant senior manager (Head of Function). The senior manager will review the matter in its entirety and, if appropriate, may decide to commence a progressive or immediate disengagement with the customer. If appropriate, the senior manager will write to the individual/s outlining why Sexual Health Centre believe the behaviour to be unreasonable and what action Sexual Health Centre propose to take.
The options Sexual Health Centre are most likely to consider are:
requesting contact in a particular form (letters only),
requiring contact to take place with a named officer,
restricting telephone calls to specified days and times,
restricting access to the Office,
asking the customer to enter into an agreement about their future conduct, and,
ultimately, terminating all contact with the complainant where the behaviour shows no signs of abating (this decision will be taken at senior manager level)
Where the senior manager has made a decision to disengage with the customer all Sexual Health Centre staff will be informed of the decision.
All correspondence to the customer will advise the complainant of his/her option to take the matter up with the Ombudsman (or, where a legal matter is concerned, appealing the matter to court).
If you have any questions or queries please contact us on 021 427 58 37 or info@sexualhealthcentre.com.