Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

NHS Care in Scotland and resources

The following advice is taken from advice provided on the Citizens Advice Bureau website. A link to more detailed information is provided below. 

Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS)

The Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS) is a an independent service which provides free, accessible and confidential advice and support to patients, their carers and families about NHS health care in Scotland.

In particular the Service will promote an awareness and understanding of the rights and responsibilities of patients and will advise and support people to give feedback, make comments, raise concerns or make a complaint about treatment and care provided by the NHS in Scotland. 

What does the service do?

The Patient Advice and Support Service will:-

Help you understand your rights and responsibilities as patients

  • Provide you with information, advice and support if you wish to give feedback or comments, or raise concerns or complaints, about health care delivered by NHS Scotland
  • Provide practical help with making a complaint, which may include preparing letters, making phone calls and supporting you in preparing for and attending meetings
  • Work with the NHS to use feedback to improve the patient experience and improve NHS service provision

The Patient Advice and Support Service is provided by the Scottish Citizens Advice Bureaux Service and can be accessed from any of the 81 bureaux and 250 bureaux outreach throughout Scotland.

You can find out more about the service at www.cas.org.uk/patientadvice.

You can access the service via your local Citizens Advice Bureau. You can find contact details of your nearest bureau at www.cas.org.uk or in your local phone book. 

Further links

There are also independent organisations that can provide advice and support about NHS, private healthcare and complaints to the GMC. To read more see the Other support groups section in Useful links.

What next

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

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