Complaints Policy

We want to hear when something has gone wrong. Making a complaint will not, by itself, affect the care or service you receive. You can contact the Medical Director at help@mytrt.com, telephone 0800 157 7521, or write to the address below. We will acknowledge a complaint within three working days and aim to provide a full response within 20 working days.

Complaint contact details

Method	Details
Email	help@mytrt.com — subject: Complaint for the Medical Director
Telephone	0800 157 7521, Monday–Saturday, 8am–6pm
Post	Medical Director, MYTRT, Elevate Healthcare Group Limited (company number 16231959), 71–75 Shelton Street, London, England, WC2H 9JQ
Accessibility	Tell us if you need large print, a translated explanation, an interpreter, a relay service, extra time, or another reasonable adjustment

If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. For urgent medical advice, use NHS 111 where appropriate. The complaints channel is not monitored as an emergency service.

1. Our commitments

We aim to provide safe, effective and respectful services. We treat complaints as an opportunity to resolve concerns, explain decisions, identify risk and improve. We will:

1. make the process accessible and accept complaints verbally or in writing;
2. listen without discriminating against, victimising or disadvantaging a person who raises a concern in good faith;
3. acknowledge the complaint, assess immediate safety needs and investigate proportionately;
4. use a reviewer with appropriate knowledge who was not directly responsible for the matter wherever practicable;
5. protect confidentiality and share information only where needed for investigation, care, safety, law or regulation;
6. keep the complainant informed if the investigation takes longer than expected;
7. give a clear outcome, reasons and any action or remedy; and
8. record and review themes, risks and improvements.

These commitments reflect the CQC requirement for an effective, accessible system for receiving, recording, handling, investigating and responding to complaints about regulated care. [1]

2. What this policy covers

This policy covers concerns about:

• the MYTRT website, account, ordering, payment, subscription, delivery or customer support;
• testing, results, clinical assessment, communication, prescribing, monitoring or continuity of care;
• staff or clinician conduct;
• accessibility, discrimination, privacy, dignity, consent or confidentiality;
• a medicine, dispensing, pharmacy communication or delivery;
• a laboratory, phlebotomy or other partner service arranged through MYTRT;
• a data-protection concern or exercise of information rights; and
• how an earlier concern was handled.

A request for a routine refund, correction or explanation may be resolved as a service enquiry. You may still ask for it to be recorded and investigated as a complaint.

This policy does not replace an appeal or reporting route prescribed by law or a professional regulator. If another process is more appropriate, we will explain it and, where lawful, help route the concern.

3. Who can complain

You may complain if you are a current or former patient, customer, prospective user, authorised representative, carer, family member, advocate, professional, or another person affected by the service.

Complaints made for another person

We will normally need the patient’s or customer’s authority before sharing confidential information with a representative. We may ask for signed authority or another proportionate confirmation. If the person lacks capacity, is a child, has died, or cannot provide authority, we will assess whether the representative has an appropriate legal or best-interests basis and what information can lawfully be shared.

A representative may raise a safety or safeguarding concern even where we cannot disclose the outcome to them.

Anonymous complaints

You may complain anonymously. We will investigate as far as the available information permits, but we may be unable to ask questions, provide an individual response or verify a remedy.

4. How and when to complain

You may complain by email, telephone or post using the contact details at the top of this policy. A member of staff who receives a verbal complaint should record it and route it to the complaints lead.

Please complain as soon as reasonably possible so that records and recollections remain available. We normally ask for a complaint within 12 months of the event or of the date you first became aware of the issue. We will consider a later complaint where there is a good reason for delay and a fair investigation remains possible. Illness, bereavement, disability, vulnerability and difficulty understanding the process are relevant considerations.

We can arrange a telephone or video discussion where useful, but you do not have to attend a meeting to make a valid complaint.

5. What information helps us investigate

Please provide what you reasonably can from the following:

Helpful information	Examples
Who you are	Full name, safe contact details and relationship to the patient, if applicable
Which service	Order number, appointment, test, prescription, medicine, delivery or account concerned
What happened	A concise description, relevant dates and people involved
Impact	What harm, inconvenience, cost or concern resulted
Desired outcome	Explanation, correction, apology, refund review, clinical review or another practical remedy
Evidence	Relevant message, photograph, label, tracking record or document that you may lawfully share
Accessibility and safety	A communication adjustment, urgent clinical concern or risk of harm we need to consider

Do not obtain information unlawfully or send more medical information than is needed. We can help identify the relevant records.

6. Acknowledgement, triage and immediate action

We will acknowledge a complaint within three working days. The acknowledgement will normally confirm:

• the complaint reference and responsible contact;
• our understanding of the main issues and desired outcome;
• any authority or information we need;
• the proposed investigation and expected response date; and
• any immediate action already taken.

We first assess whether the complaint identifies an urgent clinical risk, medicine error, safeguarding issue, data breach, fraud, serious staff-safety concern or notifiable incident. We may contact you quickly, involve a clinician or pharmacy, preserve evidence, make a safeguarding referral, advise urgent care, or report to an authority where necessary.

Where a complaint concerns care and treatment that may involve a notifiable safety incident, the responsible regulated provider will consider its statutory duty-of-candour obligations.

7. Investigation and response times

We aim to issue a full written response within 20 working days after acknowledgement. Some matters take longer because they involve several providers, specialist clinical review, laboratory or pharmacy records, staff absence, external evidence or a patient-safety investigation.

If we cannot respond within the target, we will explain the reason, work completed and expected completion date. We will provide a progress update at least every 10 working days while the investigation remains open, unless we agree another interval with you.

An investigation may include review of account, order, call, message, clinical, laboratory, pharmacy, delivery and audit records; interviews with relevant staff or clinicians; a specialist or independent clinical opinion; review of applicable policies or guidance; and contact with a partner responsible for part of the service.

We will distinguish factual findings, clinical judgement, policy compliance and matters that cannot be determined from the available evidence. We use the civil standard of the balance of probabilities where a factual conclusion is needed, while taking patient safety seriously even if evidence is incomplete.

8. Clinical, pharmacy, laboratory and privacy complaints

Different organisations may be responsible for different parts of the pathway. We will not ask you to navigate that structure without help.

Type of complaint	How it will normally be handled
MYTRT administration, payment, website or delivery	Led by Elevate Healthcare Group Limited, involving the provider responsible for a specific action where needed
Clinical assessment, prescribing or clinician conduct	Referred to the Medical Director and MessageGP Limited’s clinical-governance process; reviewed by an appropriately qualified person
Medicine or dispensing	Coordinated promptly with Smartway Pharma Limited; immediate safety and recall action takes priority
Laboratory or phlebotomy	Investigated with the laboratory or collection provider, while MYTRT remains your coordination point for a service it arranged
Privacy or patient records	Reviewed by the controller responsible for the processing; rights and escalation are explained in the Privacy Notice
Several services	A lead handler coordinates a combined response or explains clearly why separate responses are required

We will obtain and share only the information reasonably needed for the investigation and will tell you where another organisation must answer a part of the complaint in its capacity as an independent controller or regulated provider.

9. If the complaint concerns the Medical Director

If the complaint concerns the conduct, decision or conflict of the Medical Director, state this in the subject line or tell the person taking the call. The complaint will be allocated to a director or appropriately senior clinician who was not involved in the matter. Where necessary, we will obtain an external or independent clinical opinion.

If the usual complaints contact is unavailable, another trained person will record and acknowledge the complaint and arrange appropriate oversight. A complaint will not be delayed merely because a named person is absent.

10. Confidentiality and records

Complaints are handled confidentially. Information is available only to people who need it to investigate, respond, provide safe care, obtain advice, insure a risk, meet a legal duty or cooperate with a regulator. We will not place complaint correspondence in a clinical record unless it is relevant to care, safety, a clinical decision or a record-keeping duty; where it is relevant, we will distinguish the complaint from clinical observations.

We maintain a record of the complaint, evidence considered, findings, communications, outcome and actions. Records are retained according to our Privacy Notice, clinical-governance duties, insurer requirements and applicable limitation periods.

The patient’s care and treatment must not be adversely affected because they complained. This does not prevent a clinician from making an independent safety decision supported by clinical reasons, or the service from addressing genuinely harmful conduct under section 13.

11. Outcomes, remedies and learning

The final response will normally include:

1. the issues investigated;
2. the evidence and professional input considered;
3. findings on each material issue;
4. an explanation of what should have happened;
5. an apology and acknowledgement where appropriate;
6. any clinical, operational, financial or record-correction action;
7. any learning, policy, training, audit or monitoring change;
8. the right to ask for a review and the relevant external routes; and
9. the name or role of the person approving the response.

Possible remedies include an explanation, apology, corrected information, re-performance, replacement, refund or price review, additional clinical review, communication adjustment, staff feedback, process change or referral to the responsible provider. A remedy depends on the facts, contract, patient safety and legal rights; making a complaint does not guarantee a requested outcome.

We review complaints for themes, repeated incidents, health inequalities, accessibility barriers, safeguarding concerns, provider performance and opportunities to improve. Serious risks are escalated through the relevant governance process without waiting for the complaint to close.

12. Review and external escalation

Internal review

If you remain dissatisfied, reply within 20 working days of the final response and identify the finding, evidence or remedy you want reviewed. A director, senior clinician or other reviewer not materially involved in the original decision will consider whether the investigation was fair, evidence was missed, clinical input was appropriate and the outcome was reasonable. We aim to complete an internal review within 20 working days, with progress updates if delayed.

Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) welcomes information about poor care and may use it in its regulation of services, but it does not take forward an individual complaint on a patient’s behalf. [2] You can give feedback at cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care or telephone 03000 616161.

Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service

The Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) can consider complaints only about participating private healthcare organisations. We have not represented that every organisation in the MYTRT pathway is a subscriber. If the provider responsible for your complaint is an ISCAS subscriber at the relevant time, its final response will explain the applicable independent-adjudication route.

Pharmacy concerns

Raise a pharmacy complaint with MYTRT and Smartway Pharma first so it can be investigated and remedied. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) investigates serious concerns about pharmacy professionals or registered pharmacies where patient safety or public confidence may be at risk, including dispensing errors. It does not ordinarily resolve customer-service, compensation or contractual disputes. [3] See pharmacyregulation.org/reporting-concerns.

Data-protection concerns

Raise a data concern with us first at help@mytrt.com using the subject “Data protection complaint”. If you remain dissatisfied, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or telephone 0303 123 1113. The ICO recommends giving the organisation an opportunity to put matters right first. [4]

Professional, safety, fraud and legal routes

A concern about a doctor’s fitness to practise may be reported to the General Medical Council where its threshold is met. Suspected crime, immediate danger or fraud should be reported to the police or relevant authority. These routes do not prevent you from using our complaints process, although we may coordinate the investigation to avoid prejudicing a formal proceeding.

13. Unreasonable or harmful conduct

We do not label a complaint unreasonable merely because it is persistent, strongly expressed, complex, critical or ultimately not upheld. We will consider communication needs, disability, distress, capacity, vulnerability and the seriousness of the issue.

If conduct becomes abusive, threatening, discriminatory, excessively repetitive after a full response, or seriously disruptive, we may set proportionate communication arrangements under our Patient Conduct and Zero-Tolerance Policy. Wherever practicable, we will give a warning, explain the reason, identify a single contact or channel, set a review date and preserve access to urgent clinical information, records and external escalation. A credible threat or immediate safety risk may require urgent restriction or police involvement without prior warning.

References

1. CQC — Regulation 16: Receiving and acting on complaints
2. CQC — Complaining about healthcare services
3. GPhC — Concerns we investigate
4. ICO — Data protection complaints