Complaints

Help us to look after you

Your care is very important to us but occasionally, regrettably we do fall short. We strive to provide the best possible service but if there is anything we can do better, we would like to know. This is because it gives us a chance to make things right for you and we can improve the experience for future patients. If you have a concern or a complaint, we will take it seriously and will deal with it professionally, impartially and confidentially. Whatever you want to say, your opinions and comments are important to us – good or bad.

If you need to raise a concern or make a complaint

The Vison Scotland patient care team are dedicated to making sure every aspect of your care is stress-free. If you are unhappy with any aspect of our care or facilities, we would encourage you to speak to our patient care team. In most cases, they will be able to resolve your concerns. If you still feel it is necessary to make a complaint, please follow the steps below. We will investigate the situation so that we can explain, apologise and take all steps needed to resolve the issue. Please tell us as soon as the problem arises so we can address it immediately and before it causes you any additional stress or worry.

The complaints process

Submit your complaint by emailing our customer relations team at [email protected]
Please include the follow information: Hospital you were treated in, date on which you had reason to complain, name of consultant / staff member who was caring for you, type of treatment you received, details of your complaint.
You can also write to Vision Scotland Customer Relations team:
Vision Scotland, Unit 3, 5 Ratho Park, Newbridge, Edinburgh EH28 8QQ
You will receive an acknowledgement of your complaint within 48 hours.
The senior management representative will liaise with all necessary parties on your behalf – consultants, patient care team and / or hospital staff to ensure your complaint is dealt with promptly.
Expect ongoing communications with our team until your complaint is resolved to your
satisfaction.We will reply in full as promptly as we can – usually within 20 working days. Only in complex cases would we expect a complaint to take longer to resolve. If this is the case we will write to you to explain the delay.

The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN)

IHPN have created this short animation explaining your rights as a patient around being treated fairly, safely, and having the highest standards of private healthcare. Please watch https://youtu.be/dATfFanav_Q

Independent hospital review

If you are not happy with the response from our team, you have the right to escalate your complaint within the hospital group where you have been treated. The SMT member who has managed your complaint will provide you with instructions on how to complain. One of hospital’s team will review your complaint and will either confirm the decision and actions taken by Vision Scotland or reach an alternative decision to help resolve the matter.

An independent external review

As a final resort, private patients have the right to take their complaint to independent external adjudication. This process is run by the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (email [email protected] or telephone 020 7536 6091) who only become involved once you have been through the hospital’s complaints process.

You may also wish to share your experience with Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). They cannot look into complaints about health services but they would still like to hear from you if you are not happy about your care.