Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
We're here to help - to provide on the spot help and advice
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is available for patients who wish to raise any issues or concerns regarding their treatment or stay in hospital.
We make every effort to ensure our patients receive the highest standard of care. This includes supporting patients, carers and relatives of patients to the best of our abilities, providing advice and help through a dedicated PALS department.
As a first step to a resolution:
Ask to speak to the service concerned, e.g., the ward/department manager or Sister in Charge. Many problems arise from simple misunderstandings which can be resolved very quickly if you speak to staff at the time.
During the night you can speak to the Duty Manager (contacted via switchboard on 01923 244366)
If that does not resolve the issue, please ask them to contact the PALS team or you can contact us personally. Even if you have been discharged from hospital, you can still let us know about any issues you want to raise.
We are a patient-friendly, easy to access service designed to provide a personal contact to assist anyone who uses our services. We are also interested in your views on the care our hospitals provide and welcome comments, compliments, and suggestions for improvement.
Our hours are Monday to Friday - 8am to 4pm
You can speak to the PALS team in confidence by phone, on:
01923 217198 or email us at westherts.pals@nhs.net.
Out-of-hours - please leave a telephone message or send an e-mail and you will receive a response to your enquiry the next working day.
In an emergency, ask for the on-call Duty Manager via the Watford General Hospital’s main telephone number 01923 244366.
Should your relatives/carers/friends wish to raise concerns on your behalf, we would need to have your consent to protect patient confidentiality.
We welcome calls via the Text Relay service - prefix all numbers with 18001.
Interpreting and Translation
Should you, your family or carer require an interpreter or signer for appointments at our trust, such as clinic appointments, ward meetings or to communicate your concerns, we can book a trained person to assist.
See here for further information.
This support is free to our service users.
PALS can:
- Provide users with information about the NHS and help with other health related enquiries
- Help resolve concerns or problems encountered by NHS users
- Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help where users decide they may want to make a formal complaint
- Provide information about, and signpost or refer to agencies and support groups outside the NHS
- Inform users about getting more involved in their own healthcare and the NHS locally
- Improve the NHS by listening to concerns, suggestions and experiences and ensuring that people who design and manage services are aware of the issues raised
- Act as early an warning system for NHS Trusts and monitoring bodies by identifying problems or gaps in services and reporting them.
PALS cannot:
- Book or change appointments
- Give you detailed medical information or explain a medical diagnosis
- Give out test results
- Access your medical Health Records
- Change or affect medical decision that has been made
- Deal with invoices, job applications or promotional and advertising materials
