Independent Health Complaints Advocacy (IHCA)

Independent Health Complaints Advocacy is a free, independent advocacy service that can help you make a complaint about any aspect of your NHS care or treatment. This includes treatment in a private hospital or care home that is funded by the NHS.

The National Health Service (NHS) works hard to treat everyone properly and promptly. Most people who access NHS services are satisfied with their experience, but sometimes things don’t work out as expected. You can help to improve things and the NHS can learn from your experience if you need to complain.

How can advocacy help you?

We will provide you with an Information Pack to help you make a complaint about your care or treatment using the NHS Complaints Procedure.

You can choose to make your complaint with, or without, the help of an advocate, depending on how you feel about starting the complaints process and the complexity of your case.

If you need further support, we can provide you with advocacy support.

For guidance and a template for how to write a complaint letter, please read this:

Click here to download a guide to writing a complaints letter

For information about how to access your medical records, please read this information:

Click here for a guide to Accessing Medical Records for NHS Complaints

To make a referral for Independent Health Complaints Advocacy in the London Borough of Croydon, please click here.