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Complaints Procedure

1. Our commitment to you

At Hopscotch we are committed to providing high-quality occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and sensory integration services to children and their families. We value all feedback, and we take any concern or complaint seriously.

We see complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve. We will:

  • treat every complaint with fairness, courtesy and respect;

  • handle complaints promptly, sensitively and confidentially;

  • never treat anyone less favourably because they have raised a concern, and make sure that doing so will not affect the care a child receives now or in the future;

  • explain our decisions clearly and tell you what we have done as a result.

This policy explains how to raise a concern, what will happen next, and what you can do if you are not satisfied with our response.

2. Who can complain

You can use this procedure if you are:

  • a parent or carer with parental responsibility for a child who uses our services;

  • a young person who uses our services (where appropriate to their age and understanding);

  • a representative acting on behalf of a client, with their consent (or the consent of someone with parental responsibility);

  • anyone else directly affected by the way we provide our services.

Where a complaint is made on behalf of a child, we may need to confirm that you have parental responsibility or appropriate consent before we share certain information, in order to protect the child's confidentiality.

3. What you can complain about

You can raise a concern about any aspect of our service, for example the standard of an assessment or therapy, the conduct of a member of staff, communication, waiting times, fees and billing, our facilities, or how we have handled your personal information.

If your concern is about the handling of personal data, please also see Section 9 (Confidentiality and data protection).

4. How to make a complaint

Stage 1: Talking to us informally

Many concerns can be resolved quickly and informally. If you feel able to, please raise the issue with the therapist or member of staff involved, or ask to speak to a senior member of the team. We will always try to put things right straight away.

If you would prefer not to raise it informally, or if the matter is serious, you can make a formal complaint at Stage 2.

Stage 2: Making a formal complaint

You can make a formal complaint in any of the following ways:

To help us investigate properly, please include where possible:

  • the name of the child or client the complaint relates to;

  • your name, relationship to the client, and how to contact you;

  • a description of what happened, including relevant dates, times and the names of any staff involved;

  • what you would like us to do to put things right.

If you need help to make your complaint, or would like it in a different format, please let us know (see Section 10).

5. What happens after you make a complaint

  1. Acknowledgement: We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 3 working days of receiving it.

  2. Investigation: Your complaint will be overseen by the Director. We will look into the matter fairly and thoroughly, speak to the people involved, and review any relevant records.

  3. Our response: We aim to send you a full written response within 20 working days of acknowledging your complaint. Our response will explain what we found, the decision we have reached, any action we are taking, and how to take matters further if you remain unhappy.

  4. If we need more time: Some complaints are complex and take longer to investigate. If we cannot respond within 20 working days, we will tell you why, keep you informed of progress, and agree a revised timescale with you.

6. If you are not satisfied with our response

If you are not happy with the outcome, please let us know and we will offer a review of your complaint by the Director (or another senior person not previously involved). We will try to resolve the matter and explain any further options available to you.

7. Taking your complaint further (external bodies)

You can contact an external organisation at any stage, although we hope you will give us the chance to put things right first.

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Professional and regulatory bodies

  • HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council): the statutory regulator for occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. If you have a concern about the conduct or competence of a registered professional, you can raise it with the HCPC: www.hcpc-uk.org

  • RCOT (Royal College of Occupational Therapists): the professional body for occupational therapists: www.rcot.co.uk

  • RCSLT (Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists): the professional body for speech and language therapists: www.rcslt.org

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Data protection

  • ICO (Information Commissioner's Office): if your complaint is about how we have handled your personal information and you are not satisfied with our response: www.ico.org.uk  - Helpline 0303 123 1113

8. Safeguarding

The welfare of the children we work with is our highest priority. If a complaint raises a safeguarding or child-protection concern, we will deal with it under our Safeguarding Policy. This may mean we have a legal and professional duty to share information with the local authority, the police, or other relevant agencies, even where this has not been requested. We will explain this to you wherever it is appropriate and safe to do so.

9. Confidentiality and data protection

We will handle your complaint, and any personal information it contains, in line with the UK GDPR (UK General Data Protection Regulation) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Information about your complaint will only be shared with those who need it to investigate and respond, or where we are required or permitted to share it by law (for example, for safeguarding or regulatory reasons). Records relating to complaints are kept separately from a child's clinical records and are retained securely for a period of six months before being securely destroyed. For more information about how we use personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.

10. Accessibility and support

We want our complaints process to be open to everyone. In line with the Equality Act 2010, we will make reasonable adjustments to support you. If you need this information or our correspondence in a different format (for example large print or by telephone), or if you would like help to make a complaint, please contact us at info@hopscotchtherapy.co.uk and we will do our best to assist.

11. Anonymous complaints

You are welcome to raise a concern anonymously. Please be aware that we may not be able to investigate fully or respond directly if we cannot contact you, but we will still record the concern and consider what we can learn from it.

12. Learning from complaints

We record and review all complaints to identify themes and improve our services. Information used for this purpose is anonymised wherever possible.

13. Contact summary

Email: info@hopscotchtherapy.co.uk

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Post: Complaints, Hopscotch Children's Therapy Centre, 11 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HB

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Telephone: +44 (0)207 486 8168

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Hours: Monday to Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 9am-5pm

This policy is reviewed regularly to ensure it remains accurate and effective. If you have any suggestions about how we could improve it, please let us know.

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