Complaint Policy
Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke aims to provide a high quality and satisfactory
experience to those who access our Care and Health Promotion Services, or support our work through fundraising.
We realise that there may be times when we do not meet our own high standards or when something goes wrong. When this happens we want to hear about it so that we can deal with the situation and improve in the future.
How to Complain
We take complaints very seriously and hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly – preferably with the person concerned and at the time that they arise.
If your complaint cannot be dealt with in this way, or you do not wish to raise it directly with the person concerned, you may wish to make a formal complaint.
In order to make a formal complaint to the organisation you should submit your complaint in writing to the PA to the Chief Executive, who will act as the co-ordinator for all complaints.
You may, if you wish, let us know how you think your complaint could be resolved.
You should email akelly@nichs.org.uk or write to the Office Manager & PA, NICHS, 21 Dublin Road, Belfast, BT2 7HB.
What will happen
You will receive a written acknowledgement within 5 working days and your complaint will be directed to the relevant member of the Senior Leadership Team.
We will always treat you with consideration and respect and will keep you informed of progress as quickly as possible.
The Director dealing with your complaint will aim to have looked into it within 10 working days from the date it was raised with us.
When we look into a complaint we aim to find out what, if anything, went wrong. We will ensure that, should you wish, it will be possible to discuss the problem with those concerned. We will offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved. We will ensure that you receive an apology where this is appropriate.
In the case of a serious or complex complaint we may, if appropriate, involve members of our Governance Board or an independent third party to investigate your complaint.
We consider each complaint to be an opportunity to learn and we will review the situation and identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.
If you are unhappy with the reply that you receive from the individual department, you should contact the Chief Executive via the PA & Office Manager.
There may be rare occasions when we cannot progress a complaint through this
procedure. These include:
• When a complaint is about something that NICHS has no direct connection to. We may
choose to reply to confirm this but we are not obliged to.
• When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to
(outside of the usual escalation points).
• When a complainant is being obviously abusive, prejudiced or offensive in their manner.
• When a complainant is harassing a staff member.
• When a complaint is incoherent and we have been unable to clarify with the
complainant.
• NICHS cannot respond to complaints made anonymously. We may investigate the
complaint and use the information to improve in any way, if applicable.
Fundraising Complaints
We will do our utmost to resolve your complaint. However, if you remain dissatisfied with our response you can contact the Fundraising Regulator". Fundraising activities in NICHS are regulated by the Fundraising Regulator.
If you have a complaint about any aspect of our fundraising, in addition to the internal procedure outlined above, you can contact the Fundraising Regulator for an independent investigation via their website at http://www.fundraisingregulato... by post to Fundraising Regulator, 2nd floor, CAN Mezzanine Building, 49-51 East Road, Old Street, London, N1 6AH, or by phone on 0300 999 3407
