title: Patient complaints: guidance for nurses.
abstract: In response to the debate at RCN Congress in 1990, the College has produced the following guidelines for good practice on handling complaints about care, treatment and services. These guidelines have been written to help nurses, midwives and health visitors to handle complaints in ways which are fair to patients and in which they feel confident. The principles are readily applicable to other disciplines and an effective complaints procedure can only be established on a multidisciplinary basis. They may be used and adapted to form local policies and should be considered in conjunction with the recommendations of the Association of Community Health Councils and government recommendations and proposals to improve patients' satisfaction and confidence in health care services.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards*; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012956:Societies, Nursing; D006113:United Kingdom