Healthcare clinic operations · Quality
Patient complaint handling
Answer every patient complaint on time and in writing, with the facts checked and any clinical points reviewed by a clinician. The patient tells their side and says whether the matter is resolved through a shared link, and every complaint ends with something the clinic changes.
- Duration: 2 to 4 weeks
- How often: For every patient complaint
- Steps: 9 steps
- AI agents: 1 AI agent
- Approvals: 1 approval
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What changes with this template
Without it
Complaints come in at the desk, by phone and by email, and some are never logged.
Responses are written from scratch and sometimes promise too much.
A complaint about care is answered by someone who never looked at the care.
Nobody asks the patient whether the matter is resolved.
With it
Every complaint starts a run with a reference and a response deadline.
An AI agent drafts the response, and the practice manager checks every fact.
The medical director reviews the clinical side before the response is written.
The patient says through a shared link whether it is resolved and rates the handling.
The template, step by step
Each step says who does it: someone on your team, an AI agent, or the client through a shared link. An approval keeps every later step locked until it is given.
- Done by your team
- Done by an AI agent
- Done by the client, through a shared link
Starts when
A patient or relative complains by phone, email, letter or at the desk. The complaints coordinator starts a run with a complaint reference and the date it was received.
- 1
Log and acknowledge the complaint
Day 1Complaints coordinator · Team
Start the run with a complaint reference, the date received and the category, set the response deadline from your complaints policy, and acknowledge the complaint the same day with the shared run link.
Checklist
- Complaint acknowledged the same day
- Shared link sent to the patient
- Response deadline set
Fields to fill in
- Complaint reference (required)
- Date received (required)
- Category (required)
- Response due (required)
- 2
Describe the complaint and the outcome wanted
Days 1 to 5Patient · Shared link
Through the shared link, the patient or relative describes what happened in their own words and what they would like the clinic to do. Medical details are not needed here; the clinic reviews the clinical record separately.
Fields to fill in
- What happened (required)
- Outcome you would like (required)
- Preferred way to be contacted (required)
- 3
Investigate the facts
Hidden from the shared linkDays 2 to 10Complaints coordinator · Team
Speak to the staff involved and check the appointment, billing or other records, then write down what you found. Tick whether the complaint touches on clinical care.
Checklist
- Staff involved spoken to
- Records checked
- Timeline of events written
Fields to fill in
- Findings (required)
- Clinical care involved
- 4
Review the clinical aspects
Hidden from the shared linkDays 5 to 10Medical director · Team
Read the findings. If the complaint touches on clinical care, review the clinical record with the clinician involved and write the conclusion to use in the response, without clinical details.
Checklist
- Findings read
- Clinical record reviewed where needed
- Clinician involved spoken to where needed
Fields to fill in
- Clinical review (required)
- Conclusion for the response
- 5
Draft the response
Day 10Response writer · AI agent
The response writer drafts a response letter from the complaint, the outcome the patient wants, the findings and the medical director's conclusion, in the tone and structure in its instructions.
Fields to fill in
- Draft response (required)
Checked by: The practice manager checks every fact and approves the response in step 6.
- 6
Approve the response
Hidden from the shared linkDays 10 to 12Practice manager · Team
Read the draft, check every fact and every promise against the findings, correct it and approve it.
Checklist
- Every point in the complaint answered
- Facts match the findings
- No promise the clinic cannot keep
Approval: Nothing goes to the patient until the practice manager approves the response.
- 7
Send the response
Before the deadlineComplaints coordinator · Team
Send the approved response the way the patient asked to be contacted, and offer a call or a meeting to talk it through.
Checklist
- Sent before the response deadline
- Call or meeting offered
Fields to fill in
- Response sent on (required)
- 8
Say whether the matter is resolved
Within 2 weeks of the responsePatient · Shared link
Through the shared link, the patient says whether the response resolves the complaint and rates how it was handled.
Fields to fill in
- Matter resolved (required)
- How the complaint was handled
- What is still open
- 9
Close the complaint and record the change
After step 8Practice manager · Team
Record what the clinic changes because of this complaint and who owns it. If the patient is not satisfied, offer the escalation route in your complaints policy before closing.
Checklist
- Complaint log updated
- Team told about the change
- Escalation route offered if not resolved
Fields to fill in
- Improvement action (required)
- Action owner (required)
Done when
The patient has a written response within the deadline and has said whether the matter is resolved, and the improvement action has an owner.
Make it yours. Rename steps, change owners and add checklist items, fields or approvals. The template is a starting point for the way your team works.
The AI agents in this template
An agent only works on its own steps, and a person on your team checks what it did. Anything an agent writes to a connected app waits for approval unless you allow it.
Response writer
Drafts the written response to the patient from the complaint and the findings.
What it does
- Reads the complaint, the outcome the patient wants and the findings on the run
- Uses the medical director's conclusion for any clinical point
- Follows the tone and structure in its step instructions
- Writes the draft into its step and completes the step
Checked by: The practice manager checks every fact and approves the response in step 6.
Questions this template answers
Acknowledge it the same day, investigate the facts, answer in writing within the deadline in your complaints policy and record what you change. Steps 1 to 9 run that sequence for every complaint, with the response deadline set in step 1.
Answer every point the patient raised, explain what you found and say what changes, without promising what you cannot keep. In step 5 the response writer drafts the letter from the findings, and in step 6 the practice manager checks every fact and approves it.
Let a senior clinician review the clinical side, and keep clinical details in the clinical record. In step 4 the medical director reviews the complaint with the clinician involved and records a conclusion to use in the response.
Set the response deadline when the complaint is logged and keep the complaint visible until it is answered. Step 1 records the deadline, and step 7 records the date the response was sent.
Ask them after the response and record the answer. In step 8 the patient says through a shared link whether the matter is resolved and rates how it was handled.
Turn each complaint into one concrete change with an owner. Step 9 records the improvement action and its owner before the complaint is closed.
Run this workflow in OKiDO
Set up the steps, owners and approvals once, then start a run for every new case.