Complaints

Your views are very important to us.

We are committed to providing high quality services for the people of South Tyneside. However, there may be times when things go wrong and you are not happy with service you have received from Adult Social Care. We want to hear about it as soon as possible so we can try to put things right for you.

We also want to hear when things go well or if you have ideas about how we can do things better. Your comments will help us to be sure we are providing high standards of service.

Who can make a complaint

Anyone who receives a service from Adult Social Care or who may have been refused a service. You can complain yourself or someone may complain on your behalf as long as they have your agreement.

What happens next

We will try to sort out your complaint as soon as possible. We will talk to you about your complaint and ask you what we can do to put things right. We will let you know how we are planning to investigate and inform you about the outcome.

If your service involves more that one agency, for example Health Services, we may need to involve them in the investigation. We will let you know if we need to do this.

Sometimes we might have to use a different way of dealing with your complaint. For instance we might have to use our Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults procedures to look into concerns when people are at risk of harm.

How to get in touch

You can contact us by telephoning, emailing or writing to the Complaints team:

Complaints
Engagement, Communications and Support Services
Town Hall & Civic Offices
Westoe Road
South Shields
NE33 2RL
Tel: 0191 424 6028
Email: complaints@southtyneside.gov.uk

If you remain unhappy

If you remain unhappy with our reply to your complaint we will look at the outcome again to see if there is anymore we can do to put things right.

You may also wish to seek other ways of dealing with your complaint such asking for advice from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who may be able to help:

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
Web: Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman
Tel: 0300 061 0614
Opening hours - Mondays and Fridays from 1pm - 4pm, and Tuesday to Thursday from 10am - 1pm (except public holidays)

Making a compliment or comment

If you are really pleased with the service you receive, we would like to hear about it. Your views are very important as they tell us if we are getting things right.

You can comment on our services, staff and how we could improve. You can also compliment us on a service you have received.

You can do this by:

• completing our online feedback form
• telling the member of staff or their manager
• telephoning, writing or emailing Customer Advocates on 0191 424 6028, writing to the Town Hall address above or by email at: customer.advocates@southtyneside.gov.uk