Help and advice in Northern Ireland

Wherever you live in the UK, there are advice and advocacy organisations that can help you if you are thinking about making a complaint.

In Northern Ireland the Patient Client Council (PCC) can also provide assistance and support at any stage of the health and social care services complaints procedure.

The Patient Client Council is an independent body who represent the views of the public in all areas of health and social care. They can also assist you to make a complaint. This is a confidential and free service.

While the council cannot investigate complaints on your behalf, they can;

• advise you on how to make a complaint
• advise you who to complain to
• help you with making your complaint.

In some cases council staff will draft letters for you and accompany you to meetings.

To find out more about your local office of the Patient Client Council visit their website http://www.patientclientcouncil.hscni.net/ or call 0800 917 0222.

Further help

There are also independent organisations that can provide advice and support about NHS, private healthcare and complaints to the GMC. For contact details see the Useful links page. 

What next

For examples of typical complaints and advice on what to do, you might like to visit our Case studies section.

Alternatively, use the Who to complain to section to explore other options for making a complaint.