Making a complaint of your Personal Injury By LT Shahid

Making a complaint

If you have had an accident or suffered an injury you might be able to get an explanation of what went wrong and to receive an apology. In some cases, there may be an official complaints procedure you can use.

One disadvantage of using complaints procedures is that they are often time consuming and the final result will be no more than an apology. If you have suffered a personal injury and you also want compensation, you should be aware that there are time limits for taking legal action (see under heading Taking legal action) and going through a complaints procedure may delay matters.

If you decide that making a complaint will provide a sufficient remedy, here are some examples of the organisations you can complain to:

• a government department
• a local authority
• your employer
• the police
• your school or other educational institution
• your hospital or other National Health Service institution
• In Wales, new NHS Redress Arrangements which start from 1 April 2011, may allow you to combine making a complaint with claiming compensation.

If you want more information about how to complain to these types of organisations, you should seek specialist advice from an experienced adviser, for example, a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.