Health Professional

Complaints Procedure

We at DM Orthotics Ltd believe that if a customer wishes to make a complaint or register a grievance they should find it easy to do so. DM Orthotics Ltd policy is to welcome complaints and look upon them as an opportunity to learn, adapt, improve and provide a better service. This policy is intended to ensure that complaints are dealt with properly and that all complaints or comments by customers are taken seriously. The policy is not designed to apportion blame, to consider the possibility of negligence or to provide compensation. It is NOT part of our disciplinary policy.

Aim
The aim of DM Orthotics Ltd is to ensure that its complaints procedure is properly and effectively implemented, and that complainants feel confident that their complaints and worries are listened to and acted upon promptly and fairly.

Policy
This is the company policy for processing grievances and complaints. There are two levels of complaint: a simple grievance and official letter of complaint. All grievances or letters of complaint are to be dealt with the utmost professionalism, efficiency and in a timely manner.

1. A complaint as defined in ISO 13485: “Written, electronic or oral communication which alleges deficiencies related to the identity, quality, durability, reliability, safety or performance of a medical device that has been placed on the market.” – NB! a complaint may be from any stakeholder and does not have to be from a customer.
2. A grievance which is a complaint that does not relate to a DM Orthotics product but relates to the overall service such as staff behaviour, attitude, method of delivery, timing of delivery, cost or other financial matter or other product issue not related to its performance as in (1) above.

 

Send to admin@dmorthotics.com or call 01209 219205. This is dealt with on a local basis where the line manager oversees the outcome and correspondence.
In the first instance the individual investigates and responds to the grievance copying the line manager so the incident is recorded. If it requires more input then the line manager may be required to be involved in responding to the claimant. They should be responded to with 14 days after notifying the claimant that the company has received the grievance. All responses must be copied in to the line manager. All telephone calls MUST be logged with the outcome recorded. Complaints not related to an incident, potential incident or other hazard will be dealt with within 28 days.

Areas covered by this procedure would be requests for refund for inappropriate prescription and / or manufacturing fault, non-delivery of product or services, discussion of charges etc

If a claimant requests to make an official complaint or grievance in writing then the following procedure is mandatory. If it is a letter of complaint it is to be sent as a hard copy to: Martin Matthews (MD) DM Orthotics Ltd, Unit 2 Cardrew Way, Cardrew Industrial Estate, Redruth, Cornwall. TR15 1SS or email at d.severn@dmorthotics.com
As a member of the British Health Trades Association we have signed up to their code of practice, which is approved under the CTSI Consumer Codes Approval Scheme. You can download a copy at www.bhta.com/code-of-practice or please ask us for a copy.

The procedure is as follows:
➢ Once we have receipt of official letter of complaint or email at the company office it will be forwarded to the MD
➢ The MD will respond directly to the claimant once he has received the complaint letter to inform them that the letter has been received and is being investigated.
➢ The investigation will be carried out as quickly as possible, with an absolute time limit of 28 days in case of staff holidays/ overseas duties due to the requirement to contact the individual employee involved. The company will however, aim to respond within a much shorter time frame.
➢ If there are further issues that need to be managed the MD will deal with the issue. All correspondence will be copied to the Administration Manager for filing and information. If the claimant is not satisfied with the outcome and they decide to prosecute the company then all communication and processes will be carried out with support from the company solicitors. If a stalemate is reached regarding the complaint then the consumer has the right to seek mediation from the BHTA (contact details as follows: Suite 4.6, The Loom, 14 Gowers Walk, London, E1 8PY. Tel: 020
7702 2141, www.bhta.com ).
We need to ensure that complaints are dealt with fairly, promptly, openly and honestly, at a correct level and focussing on an appropriate and acceptable outcome for all parties. Stakeholder feedback may relate to DM Orthotics product or processes not meeting regulatory requirements or that our products have caused harm or have the potential to cause harm.
Stakeholder feedback lets us know how stakeholders see us and is an opportunity for us to potentially improve our performance. It may also point us towards problems that we are unaware of and will allow us to correct them and prevent them from happening again. If we don’t capture this feedback
and deal with it appropriately we are missing this opportunity to improve Stakeholder satisfaction.

 

DMO O83 V4 August 2019