Feedback

Burlington Family Health Team (BFHT) is committed to providing quality service to all our patients and values feedback through compliments, suggestions, and complaints in order to improve the quality and safety of our services. While we strive to provide our patients with the best possible care, we understand that there could be times when concerns arise and we want to provide a process for patients to bring forth their concerns or complaints and seek resolution in a direct and respectful manner.

 

Our Policy:

A patient has the right to express a concern or make a complaint to BFHT without fear of interference, coercion, discrimination, reprisal or loss of service. A patient has the right to have his/her complaint reviewed by BFHT in a fair, courteous, and timely manner. BFHT also encourages open conversations with patients about emerging issues as many situations can be addressed informally with the parties involved prior to them becoming a complaint.

 

We ask patients and their families who have problems, complaints, or concerns to follow the procedure described below. These steps ensure patients first seek assistance from the staff members who are most familiar with their care, and who can resolve the issues and/or provide additional options if needed. If you feel that your concern or complaint has not been resolved and/or are not comfortable speaking directly with the staff, you can contact the Executive Director.

 

Procedure:

How to make a complaint:

A complaint can be made in writing to the Executive Director.

By Email: info@burlingtonfht.com

 

In Writing:

Burlington Family Health Team

103-1221 Lakeshore Rd.

Burlington, ON

L7S 0A1

 

Steps in the complaint resolution process:

 

Step 1: Receipt of your complaint will be acknowledged in writing within 3-5 business days of receipt of the complaint by the BFHT.

 

Step 2: The issue of concern will be investigated by the BFHT Executive Director and/or staff involved, and findings will be communicated back to you within 14 business days, unless otherwise notified.

We aim to respond to all complaints within the timelines above; however, if a complaint is complex, it may be necessary to extend the timelines indicated in this policy.

If this is the case, we will keep the complainant informed of the progress with the investigation, the reasons for the delay, and inform them of the new timeline for communicating findings back to the complainant.

 

We are committed to making every effort to resolve the issue of concern while ensuring alignment with BFHT policies and accountabilities.

 

When we get things wrong, we will act to accept responsibility and, make the changes required to prevent future difficulties/situations of a similar kind, either for the complainant or others so it doesn’t happen again.

 

Sept 3: Appealing a Decision

Any concerns about the management of a complaint should be conveyed immediately to the Executive Director. The Executive Director may inform the Board about action taken on the complaint. Service providers shall initially respond to patient complaints about the nature or quality of services provided. The patient shall be provided with an opportunity to appeal their decisions to the Executive Director. At the discretion of the Board, the patient may also be provided with an opportunity to appeal a decision of the Executive Director to the Board. The Board may not overturn the Executive Director decision but may make recommendations to the matter.

 

Reporting:

All complaints will must be documented in the patients health record including a summary of the response provided to the patient to resolve the matter. All complaints will be reported and analyzed for the purposes of quality improvement.