HIW is responsible for checking that healthcare services in Wales meet required standards of quality and safety. This includes NHS services and independent healthcare providers.
Our statutory role does not normally include investigating individual complaints about:
- A patient’s care and treatment
- Professional misconduct
- Service changes or configuration decisions
- Matters subject to legal process
Exceptions: We may look into complaints from people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act or similar legislation.
Why Your Feedback Matters
Even if we cannot investigate your individual complaint, your feedback is important. We use information from patients, relatives, carers, and staff, alongside inspection findings and reports from other bodies, to build a complete picture of healthcare quality and safety.
- If we receive several similar concerns about a service, this may trigger an unannounced inspection or other assurance activity.
- Patterns of concern across Wales may lead to a decision to undertake a review.
- Where serious risks are identified, we act immediately to ensure safety and may share information with other agencies such as the police.
More information about can be found in our ‘Concerns and Complaints about Health Services in Wales’ leaflet.
What Happens After You Submit Feedback?
- You will receive an acknowledgement confirming your concern has been received.
- If your concern raises serious safety risks, it will be escalated for urgent review.
- We do not routinely investigate individual complaints, but your feedback helps us identify wider issues and informs our inspection planning.
Your feedback helps us make decisions about our risk-based assurance programme. Going forward, we are committed to improving how we explain the impact of your feedback on our work.
Feedback about HIW concerns process
We aim to provide a quality service in dealing with people’s concerns. Please give feedback about your experiences of the concerns process by completing our short questionnaire. This will help us monitor and, where possible, identify ways that the concerns process can be improved.
Your response will be treated anonymously.
If you have a complaint about NHS services
If you have a concern about NHS services you have received from your hospital, General Practitioner (GP), dentist, pharmacist or optician, please read the ‘Putting Things Right’ leaflet to find out who you need to contact. All NHS organisations in Wales must deal with your concern with openness and honesty, conduct a thorough and appropriate investigation and provide you with a prompt acknowledgement and detailed response about how to take the matter forward.
If you have a complaint about Independent Healthcare (private or voluntary organisations)
Contact the person or organisation who provides the service. By law they must have a procedure for dealing with patients’ complaints.
You can also share your concerns with us. We cannot investigate your complaint but we can check that the service is meeting the regulations and standards as set out in the terms of their registration with us.
FAQs: Raising Concerns with HIW
What happens when I raise a concern?
Our team reviews every submission. We may:
- Ask the healthcare organisation for a formal response
- Log your concern for future inspections
- Share it with another regulator if more appropriate
- Carry out an inspection or review if serious risks are identified
- Follow safeguarding procedures if someone is at risk of harm.
Will HIW investigate my complaint?
We do not usually investigate individual complaints about care, professional conduct, or service changes. Our role is to check that healthcare services meet quality and safety standards.
Why should I still share my experience?
Your feedback helps us build a picture of healthcare quality across Wales. Patterns of concern can trigger inspections or reviews. Serious risks lead to immediate action.
What happens after I submit feedback?
- You’ll receive an acknowledgement
- Serious safety concerns are escalated
- Your feedback informs our inspection planning and assurance work.
Does my feedback make a difference?
Yes. Every concern contributes to our risk-based programme and helps us decide where to focus scrutiny.
Leave Your Feedback
If you experience any difficulties using the form below, please email us directly: hiw@gov.wales