Complaints Policy and Procedure

Focus Gently — a trading name of Acute Care Direct Limited Last updated: 29 July 2026 Review date: 29 July 2027

At Focus Gently we are committed to providing safe, high-quality care. We welcome your feedback, and we take every concern and complaint seriously — using them to put things right and to improve our service.

Our commitment to you

  • We treat every concern and complaint seriously, fairly and promptly.

  • You will not be treated differently, and your care will not be affected, because you have complained.

  • We handle complaints confidentially and in line with data protection law.

  • Where something has gone wrong, we tell you, apologise, and explain what we are doing about it. This is our duty of candour under Regulation 20.

  • We learn from complaints and use them to improve.

Who can complain, and when

A complaint can be made by you, or by someone acting on your behalf with your consent. Where a complaint is made on your behalf, we will normally need your written consent before we can share information about your care.

Please raise a complaint within 12 months of the event, or of becoming aware of it. We will consider complaints outside that period where it is reasonable to do so.

If you need support to complain — a reasonable adjustment, an interpreter, or help from an advocate, family member or friend — tell us and we will arrange it.

You can also give us feedback anonymously. We will act on it and use it to improve, but we will not be able to respond to you or investigate individual care.

Stage 1 — Local resolution

Many concerns can be sorted out quickly. Please tell us and we will do our best to put things right straight away.

If you would like to raise a formal complaint, contact:

Registered Manager, Focus Gently Email: info@focusgently.com Post: Registered Manager, Focus Gently, 41 Harebell Road, Ipswich, IP2 0LS

What happens next:

  • We acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days.

  • We investigate thoroughly and send you a full written response, normally within 20 working days.

  • If a complex matter needs longer, we explain why, give you a revised timescale, and keep you updated.

  • Our response explains what we found, what action we are taking, and how to take things further if you are not satisfied.

If your complaint is about the Registered Manager

Our Registered Manager is also a practising clinician, so some complaints will concern their own care or conduct. In that situation they will not investigate or respond to your complaint.

It will instead be investigated by our independent clinical reviewer / consultant psychiatrist, who is not involved in the matter complained about, and who will respond to you directly. If that is not possible, we will commission an appropriately qualified external reviewer at our own cost and tell you who they are.

You do not need to ask for this. We apply it automatically.

Stage 2 — Internal review

If you are not satisfied with our Stage 1 response, tell us within 3 months and we will review the matter afresh. The review will be carried out by someone who was not involved in the original investigation or response.

We will acknowledge your request within 3 working days and respond within 20 working days, or explain why we need longer.

Stage 3 — Independent external adjudication

We are not currently a subscriber to an independent adjudication scheme. If you remain dissatisfied after Stage 2, you can raise your concerns with the Care Quality Commission or the relevant professional regulator, and you retain the right to seek independent legal advice.

Other organisations you can contact

You can contact these at any point — you do not have to complete our process first.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) — you can share your experience of our service. CQC does not resolve individual complaints, but uses the information to inform its regulation. Call 03000 616161 · cqc.org.uk

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) — for concerns about the professional conduct or fitness to practise of a nurse. nmc.org.uk

General Medical Council (GMC) — for concerns about the professional conduct or fitness to practise of a doctor. gmc-uk.org

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) — for concerns about how we have handled your personal data. ico.org.uk

Complaints and our clinical re-review

If you think something clinical was missed in your assessment, you can ask for a free re-review under our service terms. That is a clinical second look, not a complaint.

Asking for a re-review does not replace, pause or delay your right to complain, and it does not affect any of the time limits in this policy. You can do both, in either order.

How we record and learn from complaints

  • Every concern and complaint is recorded in our complaints log, whether raised formally or informally.

  • Complaints are reviewed at our clinical governance meetings, with actions assigned and tracked to completion.

  • We review complaints themes at least annually, alongside incidents and feedback, and record what we have changed as a result.

  • We share learning with our clinicians and update our policies and procedures where needed.

Your privacy

Complaint records are held securely and separately from your clinical records, and are handled in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We keep complaint records for 10 years, in line with our records retention policy.

Only those who need access in order to investigate and respond will see your complaint. Making a complaint will never affect your care.

Unreasonable or abusive behaviour

We will always investigate a complaint on its merits. Very occasionally, behaviour towards our staff — abusive, threatening or persistent contact that prevents us working — means we need to limit how we communicate. If that happens we will tell you in writing, explain why, and set out how you can still raise your concerns. We will still respond to the substance of your complaint.

Focus Gently is a trading name of Acute Care Direct Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 09534719), registered office 41 Harebell Road, Ipswich, IP2 0LS. We are registered with and regulated by the Care Quality Commission (provider ID 1-24764609935). This procedure meets our obligations under Regulation 16 (receiving and acting on complaints) and supports our duty of candour under Regulation 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.