Complaints procedure

Introduction

This procedure seeks to ensure that complaints against the Centre for Homeopathic Education(CHE) made by students are treated seriously and, if found to be valid, are acted upon to ensure that the students’ interests are protected as far as it is possible for the CHE to do so. We are committed to providing high quality services and we will endeavour to resolve any problems in our services as quickly as possible.

The complaint procedure is split into informal and formal complaints. CHE hopes to be able to resolve most complaints on an informal basis. You are strongly encouraged to pursue the informal complaints procedure before invoking the formal complaint procedure.

Definition of a complaint

CHE treats a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not relating to academic, clinical or administrative services from a user of or partner to CHE. Quality of service is an important measure of the effectiveness of educational bodies Therefore we believe that learning from complaints is a powerful way of helping to develop the College and increase trust among the people who use our services. We will review complaints received each year and use the information
from this review to enhance our provision.

This policy covers complaints about:

  • The standard of service CHE provides
  • The behaviour of CHE staff, and
  • Any action or lack of action by CHE

The complaints policy does not cover:

  • Complaints of a minor nature, which should be dealt with within the office
  • Comments and/or dissatisfaction about our policies or policy decisions
  • Matters that have already been fully investigated through this complaints procedure
  • Anonymous complaints, although we may investigate
  • Abusive complaints containing offensive language, which we will not progress or take seriously

How to make a complaint

In person; including by telephone, by email or by writing a letter: complaint letter template CHE has a two-stage complaints procedure. At each stage it will help to resolve your complaint quickly if you can give us as much clear detail as possible, including any documents and correspondence and stating that you are making a complaint in line with our procedure.

The stages of the complaints procedure – all complaints will be received centrally to ensure that our investigation complies with the standards we have set and so that we can undertake monitoring of the type and frequency of complaints we receive, and use the monitoring information to enhance our provision.

Stage 1

All issues that have the potential to become complaints, and those that are presented, as complaints to staff within CHE must be logged by the Administrator on the complaints Stage one log. This is the first opportunity for us to resolve your dissatisfaction, and the majority of complaints will be dealt with at this stage. In the first instance, we will endeavour to resolve your complaint by the Module Leader
of the area against whom the complaint has been made.

Maximum time period 20 working days. Acknowledgement within 5 working days. Full response within 20 working days.

Stage 2

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request a review by the Principal. If the complaint concerns the Principal then it will be reviewed by the Society of Homeopaths. To start Stage Two we require a written request from you to the CHE administration within five working days of you receiving your Stage One response. Maximum time period 20 working days. Acknowledgement within 5 working days. Full response within 20 working days.

Extending time limits

We aim to complete all complaints within the timescales above; however, if a complaint is very complex it may occasionally be necessary to extend the time limit. If this is the case we will keep the complainant informed of progress with the investigation, the reasons for the delay, and inform them of the new deadline.

Licentiate Students-If you are on the Licentiate programme please contact The Society of Homeopaths. Please review their complaints procedure.

Following any stage of the procedure, a complainant has a maximum of five days from the date of the final response to request that their complaint be progressed to the next stage.

Our standards for handling complaints

We treat all complaints seriously provided that they are not made abusively or offensively and comply with the guidance above. You will be treated with courtesy and fairness at all times. We would hope, too, that you will be courteous and fair in your dealings with us at all times. We will treat your complaint in confidence within the CHE and we will deal with your complaint promptly.

We will acknowledge receipt of a written complaint (online or otherwise) within five working days and we will send you a full reply within 20 working days of receipt. If we cannot send a full reply within 20 working days of receipt we will tell you the reason why and let you know when we will be able to reply in full. We will always try to better these target timescales.

Recording complaints

We will log all complaints we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems, the best way to sort them out and how long we are taking to deal with them. This also helps us to take a closer look at how we can improve our own service delivery.

We will handle your information in line with data protection legislation.

Contacting us

All complaints and requests for review under our complaints procedures should be sent to the following address:

The Centre for Homeopathic Education
12 Bloomsbury Square
London
WC1A 2LP

[email protected]