Contact the practice
Opening Times
| Monday | 8:00am to 6:30pm |
| Tuesday | 8:00am to 6:30pm |
| Wednesday | 8:00am to 6:30pm |
| Thursday | 8:00am to 6:30pm |
| Friday | 8:00am to 6:30pm |
| Saturday | Closed |
| Sunday | Closed |
If you need help when we are closed
Advice can be sought at any time by calling 111. This service is provided locally by Fylde Coast Medical Services (FCMS).
Whitegate Drive Walk in Centre, Whitegate Health Centre, Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9ES is open 8am until 8pm year round. To contact them please call 01253 953953
If you need a doctor for an emergency outside of surgery hours, telephone FCMS on 111. You may be given telephone advice or directed to the Urgent Care Centre next to Blackpool Victoria Hospital A&E Department where you may be seen by the GP on duty. Please only use this service for genuine emergencies.
For urgent dental problems, please use your own dentists out of hour service, or contact the emergency dental service on 01253 655200
The nearest hospital Accident and Emergency department is at Blackpool Victoria Hospital (01253 300 000)
Physical accessibility
The purpose built south shore primary care centre is built over three floors. All these floors are accessible via lifts which are located in the main foyer. There are no steps to access the building and all consultation rooms within Highfield Surgery will accommodate wheelchairs and small to medium sized mobility scooters.
We have a hearing loop on our top floor reception for those who require assistance.
We have translation services for those who cannot speak English or need some extra help understanding our clinicians.
How to make a complaint
We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be resolved this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of days or at most a few weeks. This will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have the details of your complaint:
- Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
- Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.
Complaints should be addressed to Heather Wilson (Practice Manager). Miss Wilson will ensure that your concerns are dealt with by the correct person and promptly.
You can make your complaint via:
- Telephone – speak to a member of our reception team who will note down your complaint and pass this onto the Practice Manager who will contact you within 72 hours
- In writing – some complaints may be easier to explain in writing – please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of the Practice manager as soon as possible.
- Via Email – Alternatively you may submit your complaint by using our email address highfield.enquiries@nhs.net with the subject line ‘For the attention of the Practice Manager’
What we shall do’
We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have investigated your complaint within 30 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be able to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.
When we investigate your complaint, we shall aim to:
- Find out what happened and what went wrong
- Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with the Practice manager or those concerned, if you would like this
- Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
- Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again
If for some reason the complaint takes longer to respond to than the specified time we will keep in contact with you to notify you of any expected delay.
If the complaint is a general one about the service, it will be investigated by the practice manager. If it involved any clinical issues it will be passed to one of our GP Partners to investigate and they will subsequently respond.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Please note that we keep strictly to rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this or you are the parent or guardian of the person on whose behalf you are complaining.
What you can do next
We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and the opportunity to improve our practice.
However if you do not wish to laise with us you can contact Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB here:
Telephone: 0800 032 2424
E-mail: lscicb.patientexperience@nhs.net
Write to: NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, Jubilee House, Lancashire Business Park, Leyland, PR26 6TR
Note: changes on 1 July 2023
- From 1 July 2023 the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner is changing. Rather than contacting NHS England, complaints will be made to directly to the local integrated care board (ICB).
- Members of the public will still be able to make a complaint to the provider. This is NOT changing.
- Members of the public with ongoing complaints received on/after 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that the ICB is now handling their complaint with confirmation of their case handler.
- Members of the public with any ongoing complaints received before 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that their complaint is being retained by NHS England with confirmation of their case handler.
If you remain dissatisfied with the responses to your complaint, you have the right to take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of the Government and NHS, and the service is confidential and free. If you have any questions about whether the Ombudsman will be able to help you, or about how to make a complaint, you can contact the telephone helpline on 0345 015 4033, email phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk You can write to the Ombudsman at The Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, Citygate, 47-51 Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3HQ.
