If you need to report that an adult is being neglected, harmed or at risk, or has care and support needs, visit adult abuse and safeguarding.
If the person is in immediate danger phone 999.
We welcome all comments, complaints and compliments about adult social care as they provide valuable information about how we can improve our services.
We aim to provide good quality services and we need your help in telling us what we are doing well and where we can improve our services.
Get in touch
You can get in touch by:
- email: sccm@medway.gov.uk
- phone: 01634 333 036
- text: 07712 391 459
- write to: Social Care Complaints Manager, Medway Council, Gun wharf, Dock Road, Chatham, ME4 4TR
You will not be disadvantaged in any way by making a complaint.
Feedback from comments, compliments, concerns and complaints will be used by Medway Council to:
- learn what is working well
- help identify potential service problems
- help identify and prevent risks
- highlight opportunities for staff development
- collate and analyse information to improve services
Our commitments
We are committed to:
- helping or giving you advice on where to get help to make your complaint
- listening to you and taking your concerns seriously
- treating you fairly and with respect
- treating your complaint as confidential
- investigating your complaint as quickly as possible
- sending you a written response
If we have got something wrong we will put things right by:
- apologising
- explaining what happened and why it happened
- trying to ensure the mistake does not happen again
- learning from our mistakes
- taking action to make things right by providing proportionate remedies when things have gone wrong.
Complaint eligibility
You can complain if you:
- get a service from adult service
- have been asked to make a complaint on behalf of someone else for example if you are a friend, relative, carer or advocate of the person
- are closely related to someone and acting on their behalf because as they are unable to make their own decisions
- are a relative and need to complain on behalf a family member who has passed away
If you have a private arrangement with a care provider you will need to raise your complaint with them.
A member of the customer relations team can assist you if you need help to make a complaint or require an advocate.
Reasons to complain
You can complain about:
- the quality of a service we have provided for you, including those services commissioned by Medway Council and provided by an independent care provider
- a delay in providing a service or not providing a service
- your assessment, care plan or review of your services
- decisions you do not agree with, such as changes to the amount of care you receive
- the charge you pay for your service and how we assessed it
- the attitude or behaviour of our staff
- the impact of our adult social care policies on you and your services, such as our eligibility criteria
There are some things, however, that should be dealt with by other procedures. Complaints will not be taken where there is:
- an ongoing disciplinary or grievance procedure
- a criminal investigation
- a statutory appeal process in place
- the intention for legal proceedings to be taken in relation to the complaint issues
- safeguarding procedures
If your complaint also involves a service provided by the NHS we will contact them, with your permission, and agree who will reply to you. You will not have to wait for two separate replies.
Time limit for making a complaint
Local Authorities do not need to consider complaints made more than a year after the grounds to make a complaint arose.
How your complaint will be dealt with
We will acknowledge your complaint with 3 working days of receiving your complaint.
We aim to respond to most complaints within 20 working days, but sometimes we need additional time to investigate more complex complaints. We will keep you informed of the process of your complaint if the time is likely to exceed 20 working days.
We will listen to you and will focus on trying to resolving your complaint in a timely way. We will investigate your complaint fairly and respond to your complaint in writing.