Our Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) is free and confidential service that is here to help when you need advice, have concerns or don’t know where to turn. Our aim is to agree the best way forward to deal with a problem and get it resolved quickly – if possible on the spot.
PALS can provide information on the NHS and point you in the right direction about health related matters. PALS is here to help you navigate through what can be confusing contact with different parts of the NHS.
All the feedback you give us – compliments, commendations, comments, concerns and complaints – help us to constantly review and improve our services for patients and their families. We want to hear about your experiences whether good or bad so that we can share the things that are working well and make improvements where your experiences have not been so positive.
We can talk to colleagues, services and other organisations on your behalf and will always ask for your permission before discussing personal information with others. Only in exceptional cases, where your safety or that of others must be considered, will we have to pass on information without your consent but we will always tell you if we have to do this.
PALS supports the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman’s principles of:
- Getting it right
- Being customer focused
- Being open and accountable
- Acting fairly and proportionately
- Putting things right
- Seeking continuous improvement.
The Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) is here to:
- help answer any questions about your care and provide information on NHS services
- advise and support you, your family and carers
- listen to your suggestions for improving our service for patients and visitors and respond to your suggestions and queries
- respond to your concerns if you are unhappy with any aspect of your care and advise you through the NHS complaints process
- pass on your compliments to staff if you are pleased with any aspect of your care
- provide speedy resolution to inquiries and provide information when requested
- act as a gateway to appropriate independent advice and advocacy support
- work across organisational boundaries, with other PALS services in Somerset and with PALS services further afield as appropriate
- provide regular reports to the Trust Board and our commissioners in which we also identify any gaps in process or service.
How to contact PALS
Please email: pals@somersetft.nhs.uk or phone us on 01823343536.
The office has an answerphone which is available 24 hours a day and messages are checked regularly during office working hours. We guarantee to return your call as soon as we can.
You can drop in and talk to someone between 9 am and 4 pm from Monday to Friday, and you do not need to book an appointment to do this. The PALS office is at Musgrove Park Hospital in Block 51 – a wooden building situated between Warren’s restaurant and the red brick Blackdown House building. It is to the side of the green area outside the Marks & Spencer entrance to the Jubilee Building. When you enter block 51, the PALS office is the first door on the right.
You can write to us at:
Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS)
Block 51
Musgrove Park Hospital
Taunton
TA1 5DA
If you require interpreters or advocacy support
British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreters
If you would like to speak to a PALS officer with a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter present, please email or text PALS who will arrange an appointment for you. Text 44 (0) 7721 539 118 (begin your text message with PALS).
If you require the assistance of an interpreter this can be arranged.
If you want to make a complaint but require support or advocacy from a source external to the hospital, SWAN Advocacy can help you. SWAN can help you write letters and will attend meetings with you.