PALS

PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)

The NHS employs over a million staff in thousands of locations. It is a large and complex organisation providing a broad range of services. It is not surprising that sometimes you or a loved one may feel bewildered or concerned when using the NHS. And this can be at times when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and anxious.

So, what should you do if you want on the spot help when using the health service? The NHS expects all members of staff to listen and respond to you to the best of their ability. But sometimes, you may wish to talk to someone employed especially to help you. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, known as PALS, has been introduced to ensure that the NHS listens to patients, their relatives, carers and friends, and answers their questions and resolves their concerns as quickly as possible.

PALS also helps the NHS to improve services by listening to what matters to patients and their loved ones and making changes, when appropriate.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) for Hillingdon Primary Care Trust is there to help you with any difficulties you may be experiencing with local health services, particularly those provided by:

• Hillingdon community services (for example, local clinics, health visitors, district nurses, podiatry).
• Hillingdon primary care practitioners (NHS care provided by GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists).
• The primary care trust itself.

What services does PALS offer?

• Provide information about local health services
• Help resolve problems when they arise.
• Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help if you decide you may want to make a complaint.
• Put you in touch with an independent advice service if this is your wish.
• Receive comments, compliments and suggestions about local services. Any information supplied to us will be treated as confidential.
• Provide you with information about the NHS and help you with any other health-related enquiry
• Help resolve concerns or problems when you are using the NHS
• Provide you with information and help introduce you to agencies and support groups outside the NHS
• Inform you about how you can get more involved in your own healthcare and the NHS locally
• Improve the NHS by listening to your concerns, suggestions and experiences and ensuring that people who design and manage services are aware of the issues you raise
• Provide an early warning system for NHS Trusts and monitoring bodies by identifying problems or gaps in services and reporting them.

PALS helps when service users experience difficulties about: 

• local NHS services provided by GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists
• community services for example,  clinics, district nurses, health visitors
• mental health services

If a concern relates to other areas of health care, PALS staff can help patients contact an alternative source of help. If a patient is unable to solve a problem with the help of PALS the formal complaints procedure is available and PALS will help a patient access this procedure.

During the year the PALS staff assisted 2,011 callers in resolving the difficulties they were experiencing with local health services. The PALS staff have handled everything from patients having difficulties finding a local GP to helping a patient gain a greater understanding about the management of their care.  Sue Taylor, Patient Services Manager, has found that many callers prefer their concerns to be handled quickly and informally with the help of the PALS staff.

The information on patients’ experiences gained from the work of PALS and the complaints procedure is used to help improve services. The PALS staff have found that helping to solve individual problems can prevent the same situation happening again and this results in improvements for other patients.

As well as your individual problems we are interested in your general views on local health care as these can help us to plan services. If you have any comments, compliments or suggestions please let us know. You can do this either by post, phone or using the form to email us. Any information supplied to us will be treated as confidential.

PALS policy (policy)

PALS team

• Sue Place  01895 452 088
• Sue Willison  01895 452 089
• Saada Saidu-Bala 01895 452 111

PALS contact details