Complaints Advocacy
We provide a service to help people in Wales make complaints about the NHS or social care. This is called "complaints advocacy." Here’s how it works:
Who can use Llais complaints advocacy?
- adults, young people, or children in Wales who have a complaint about the NHS
- adults in Wales who have a complaint about social care
- children or young people under 25 with social care complaints may need to use a different advocacy service through social services
What can Llais complaints advocates do to help?
- help you figure out if we are the right service for your complaint
- provide information in different formats, like Easy Read or Braille
- set up a private meeting to talk about your concerns, usually in your nearest Llais office
- listen to your worries and give independent advice on your options.
- treat you with respect and keep you informed about your case
What can’t complaints advocates do?
- investigate complaints ourselves
- give medical or social care advice
- make decisions for you or attend meetings on your behalf
- speed up your treatment or care
- provide counselling or a 24-hour service
- keep information confidential if there’s a risk of harm to you or others
What can you do to help with your case?
- make the final decisions about your complaint
- update us with new information or changes
- keep in regular contact with us.
If you need us, we’re here to help guide you through the health and social care complaints process.
How do I make an NHS complaint?
In NHS Wales, the process for making a complaint is called Putting Things Right.
If you can't solve the issue with the people providing your care, you can make a complaint to the NHS complaints team for your Health Board. The team should respond within 30 working days after receiving your complaint. If they can't, they should tell you why and give you a new date for when to expect a response.
How do I make a complaint about social care?
Complaints about social care follow the Social Services Complaints Procedure. They try to fix things informally at stage 1 (local resolution). If the issue is more complicated, a formal investigation at stage 2 will be done by an independent investigator.
How long do I have to make a complaint?
- For NHS complaints, you have 12 months from when the issue happened, or when you first found out about it, to make a complaint. It's best to raise it as soon as possible. If more than 12 months have passed, talk to the complaints team—they may still help if you have a good reason for the delay.
- For social care complaints at stage 1, you should get a response within 15 working days. For stage 2, the response should come within 25 days after the local authority agrees on what needs to be investigated.
Do you need to make a complaint about health or social care? Contact your local, independent Llais complaints advocacy team here.