Five steps to dealing with... a patient complaint

The AOP’s Henry Leonard shares his five steps for practices to follow if they receive a complaint

3 min read

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20 February 2026

Over the past two years, the AOP’s legal and regulatory team has seen a 35% increase in complaints or concerns against practitioners being raised.

Optometrist and head of clinical and regulatory at the AOP, Henry Leonard, spotlights the five steps that he recommends practice owners need to take in order to respond effectively when a concern is raised.

1 Follow your practice’s complaints handling procedure

Practice owners are responsible for responding to complaints, and all practices should have a formal procedure, which sets out how they respond when a complaint is made. To support members, the AOP has published a series of complaints procedure templates tailored for practices located in each of the four UK nations, which practice owners can download and adapt for use in their business, to ensure compliance with the NHS requirements in their area.

On receiving a complaint, practice owners must also notify the organisation which indemnifies their business against medical malpractice claims. If your business is vicariously indemnified through your AOP membership, you should contact the AOP’s regulation team as soon as possible for advice and assistance.

2 Acknowledge the complaint

It’s important to formally acknowledge receipt of the complaint, so the complainant knows what’s going to happen, and when they can expect a full response. The AOP has published a series of acknowledgement template letters tailored for use in each of the four UK nations to assist practice owners with this step, which are available to download on its website.

It’s important to refrain from commenting on the specifics of the complaint at this stage, but practice owners can reassure the complainant that they will be looking into the concerns raised and will provide a full response in due course.

3 Investigate the concerns

The practice owner should request a written statement from any employed or locum member of staff who was involved in the relevant episode of care that the complaint involves. It’s important for the practice owner to provide these individuals with a copy of the complaint, or a written transcript of the concerns if the complaint was verbal, and redacted clinical records, if relevant. If the staff member – employed or locum – is a General Optical Council registrant, they should be advised to contact their indemnifier for advice and assistance with their statement. The AOP’s regulation team can provide individual members with a statement template, to assist them in drafting a suitable statement.

4 Respond to the complaint

Once the practice owner has gathered statements from relevant members of staff and locums, they can use the information to draft a full response to the complaint, with input from the organisation which indemnifies their business. If the business is vicariously indemnified through the practice owner’s AOP membership, they should contact the AOP’s regulation team who can assist in drafting a full response, with input from the AOP’s clinical negligence team.

Once the wording of the response letter has been agreed, it can be sent back to the complainant. Practice owners should keep a record of any information relating to the complaint separately from the patient’s clinical records.

Practice owners should keep a record of any information relating to the complaint separately from the patient’s clinical records

5 The next steps

Most complaints are successfully resolved by the practice, without escalating to an investigatory body, or becoming a civil claim for clinical negligence.

If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the response they’ve received from the practice, it can be helpful to direct the complainant to the Optical Consumer Complaints Service, which can act as an independent mediator to help resolve any outstanding issues.