Need help or advice from our patient experience teams?

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We welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions on your experience or your care.

There are lots of ways you can tell us, for example, you can send your message of thanks on social media and we will share or re-tweet it, we always pass this on to the team you mention.

We are here to listen to feedback and stories from anyone who accesses services provided by Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

We know that things don’t always go as expected, so please speak to the Ward Manager on the ward, a senior person in the department or the Matron for the area who will make every effort to help you and resolve your concern so that we can quickly put things right.

We can also offer assistance through our Patient Advice and Complaints Service. The team are happy to listen and understand your feedback; they will help to hopefully resolve your problem, sharing your comments with the appropriate teams so we can learn from your experience and improve our services for future patients.

Help with visiting and keeping in touch with someone in hospital

We also offer some new services for those who can’t visit in person, helping you stay in touch while your loved one is in hospital, including virtual visiting, virtual hugs and drop off of essential items.

For more information go to our visiting section here.

Patient Experience team - who are they?

The Patient Experience Team are a non-judgemental, proactive group who LISTEN to feedback from anyone who access services provided by Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

It works collaboratively to disseminate LEARNING and strives to IMPACT on service IMPROVEMENT at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

What is patient experience?

Patient experience is what the process of receiving care feels like for your patients.

Understanding patient experience can be achieved through a range of activities that capture direct feedback from patients, service users, carers and wider communities. These are used alongside information on clinical outcomes and other intelligence to inform quality improvements, the way local services are designed and reshaped, and contractual arrangements with providers.

Patient advice and complaints service - what is it?

Our Patient Advice & Complaints Service is here to listen and respond to your experiences and help us improve your care and our services in the future. We provide a compassionate, proactive and responsive support service for our patients, relatives and carers.

We want to make it easy for you to talk to us about your care. What you feel matters.

Our role is to listen to all feedback whether this is a compliment, concern, complaint or simply a request for information. We are here to help you.

We value your opinions and recognise the importance of your experiences. We appreciate that sometimes we make mistakes. Your feedback is very valuable and will help us to improve our services.

We know that things don’t always go as expected, so in the first instance please speak to the Ward Manager on the ward, a senior person in the department or the Matron for the area who will make every effort to help you and resolve your concern so that we can quickly put things right.

If you need further assistance you can contact the Patient Advice & Complaints Service on 01535 294019.

The patient advice team are available Monday to Friday, 9am – 4pm.  If you need to speak with someone outside these hours, a senior nurse or hospital site manager is always available.

How the Patient Advice and Complaints service can help you

You might want to contact us if you want more information or advice about your care, you wish to pay a compliment or give general views about your care, or you may wish to make us aware of your concerns or make a complaint.

There are a number of ways the Patient Advice and Complaints Service can help you. For example, we can:

  • Support you to get answers in relation to your care and treatment
  • Help you resolve concerns or problems using our services
  • Advise you on how to get more involved with your own healthcare

We can also provide information on:

  • Our hospital services
  • The NHS complaints procedure, including how to get independent help via local advocacy services if you want to make a complaint
  • Support groups and services outside the NHS

The Patient Advice & Complaints Service also helps improve our hospital by listening to your concerns and suggestions. Please help us to improve our patient experience and services for the future.

Raising concerns about treatment or care – the first step

If you have concerns or wish to complain about your treatment or the treatment of a relative, in the first instance please raise this with a member of staff in the hospital who is providing care to the patient. This might be a nurse or midwife, doctor or health worker. They should be able to resolve this directly with you or find someone to help you.

The Matron for the ward or department is also available for you to express any concerns to and there is always a Site Manager available out of hours. Contact can be made via the main hospital switchboard 01535 652511.

Raising your concerns or complaints

If you feel you need help with raising your concerns or complaints and wish to speak to someone please contact the Patient Advice & Complaints Service.

We are open Monday to Friday 9:00am to 4:00pm.

Outside these hours you can leave a telephone or email message for the team to respond to the next working day.

Our contact details are:

Telephone: 01535 294019

Email: anhsft.patientadvice@nhs.net

Letter – or you can write to us at the following address:

Patient Advice & Complaints Service, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Skipton Road, Steeton, Keighley, BD20 6TD

Please provide your name, address, telephone number and date of birth. If you are not the patient please also provide their details and state whether you are a relative, carer or friend of the patient.

Consent will be requested from the patient or next of kin before sharing information.