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Complaints procedure

We are committed to delivering a high standard of service to everyone who comes into contact with our charity and strive to achieve the very best across all areas of the charity.

We are committed to delivering a high standard of service to everyone who comes into contact with our charity and strive to achieve the very best across all areas of the charity. However, we appreciate that sometimes things can go wrong; if they do, please let us know so that we can put things right and learn from our mistakes. 

We take complaints very seriously and treat them as an opportunity to improve. We are always grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve. 

Our Commitment 

  • We will acknowledge every complaint within 5 days of receipt. 
  • We would expect to respond to any complaint within 14 working days. If we believe a longer time period is needed, we will let you know as soon as possible. 
  • We will aim to provide a full response within 28 working days. If we are unable to meet that deadline due to exceptional circumstances, we will inform the individual concerned. 
  • In dealing with complaints, we recognise our duty to ensure that consent and confidentiality are not compromised during the complaints process unless there are professional or statutory obligations that make this necessary. 

 

How to contact us 

Phone: 01522 548469. 

Email us at enquiries@ambucopter.org.uk, including in the subject line of your email the word “complaint”. 

Letter: 

Complaints 

Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance HQ 

HEMS Way 

Off Sleaford Road 

Lincoln LN4 2GW 

Please include your name, address and contact telephone number in any communications to ensure that we are able to contact you. 

 

Complaints will be forwarded to and initially dealt with by the appropriate head of department: 

  • Medical Director: Clinical, patient or medical-related complaints. 
  • Director of Income & Engagement: all fundraising, events, retail, corporate-related complaints. 
  • Head of Communications & Marketing: Marketing, media/social media articles about our charity.
  • Head of Human Resources: Human Resources, volunteering or recruitment-related complaints. 
  • Chief Pilot: Aviation-related complaints.
  • Chief Executive: All other complaints 

We truly hope that we will be able to resolve your complaint in an honest, open and satisfactory way. However, if after contacting us, you are still unhappy then you can write to our Chief Executive at the above address. 

Please outline the details of the complaint, why you have not been satisfied with our response up to now and what you would like us to do to put things right. 

There may be very rare occasions when we choose not to respond to a complaint. These include: 

  • When a complaint is about something that LNAA has no direct connection to, we may choose to reply to it for clarification purposes but we are not obliged to. 
  • When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to, they will be given escalation points but we may choose not to reply again and we will always inform the complainant of our decision to do this. 
  • When the complaint arises from a Freedom of Information Request 
  • When the complaint is from an employee in relation to their role past or present. 
  • During any police investigation of a criminal matter. 
  • Exceeding the time limit of six months for raising a complaint. 
  • When a complainant is being abusive, prejudiced, or offensive in their manner. 
  • When a complainant is harassing a staff member. 
  • When a complaint is incoherent or illegible. 
  • When a complaint has clearly been sent to us and numerous other organisations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance, we can choose whether it is necessary for us to reply or not. 
  • We cannot respond to complaints made anonymously. However, where it is possible to do so we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.

The Fundraising Regulator 

Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance is registered with the Fundraising Regulator (FR) and is committed to the highest standards in fundraising practice. If your complaint is to do with fundraising, and after following our procedure, feel that it has not been resolved then the FR can investigate your complaint. You can contact the Fundraising Regulator: 

Fundraising Regulator 

2nd floor, CAN Mezzanine Building 

49-51 East Road 

London 

N1 6AH 

Telephone: 0300 999 3407 

Email: enquiries@fundraisingregulator.org.uk 

 

The Charity Commission 

If your complaint is related to a non-fundraising  area of our work and you do not feel completely satisfied by our response then you can contact the Charity Commission at the address below: 

Charity Commission 

PO Box 1227 

Liverpool 

L69 3UG 

Telephone: 0845 300 0218 

Website: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-charity  

 

Betting Adjudication Service 

The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) is a gambling-specialist Alternative Dispute Resolution Service and adjudicates between gambling operators and their customers. If your dispute is related to the operation of our Lottery or Super Draw, and after following our complaints procedure, you feel that the dispute has not been resolved then you can raise it with IBAS: 

Independent Betting Adjudication Service 

PO Box 62639 

London 

EC3P 3AS 

Telephone: 020 7347 5883 

Website: https://www.ibas-uk.com/ 

 

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The CQC outlines a process for raising a complaint if you are unhappy with the response from LNAA.

The CQC is not able to take forward complaints on your behalf, but information given to CQC helps them to protect others from going through the same experience.

Website: Contact us – Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)

 

Healthwatch

Healthwatch is your health and social care champion, entirely independent and impartial, and available to hear about your experiences of using health and social care services. Any information shared with Healthwatch is confidential.

 

Healthwatch Lincolnshire

Rooms 33-35
The Len Medlock Centre
St George’s Road
Boston
PE21 8YB

Telephone: 0120 5820 892

Website: http://www.healthwatchlincolnshire.co.uk/

 

Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

Unit 1, Byron Business Centre,

Duke Street,

Hucknall Nottingham

NG15 7HP

Telephone: 0115 956 5313

Website: Home – Healthwatch Nottingham & Nottinghamshire (hwnn.co.uk)