Our Complaints Process

We aim to handle complaints quickly, effectively and honestly, using the information from investigations to help us improve our services. We treat every complaint with severity and confidence.

Avante Care & Support assures clients and their families that it will not withdraw or reduce services because someone makes a complaint in good faith.

Anyone affected by Avante Care & Support’s services, including service users and their families, can make a complaint.

If you are unhappy about making a complaint yourself and don’t have someone to talk or write to us on your behalf, we will be happy to find someone from an independent organisation to advocate for you.

We use the same process to deal with anonymous complaints; however, it is better if you can provide contact details to share the outcome of our investigation.

The care home registered manager is responsible for dealing with all complaints about their service.

We will provide, as far as is reasonably practical:
Any help you need to understand the complaints procedure
Advice on where you may get that help.

The care home registered manager may ask one of the management team to investigate the complaint. That person will have enough seniority and experience to deal with the issues raised by the complaint.

We will acknowledge a complaint within 3 working days and give you the name and contact details of the person investigating it. We inform you throughout the investigation process, aiming to have all complaints finished within 28 working days unless we agree to a different time scale with you. We will complete our investigation within 7 days if the complaint is urgent.

When we finish our investigation, we will write to you with the following information and arrange to meet with you to discuss the outcome if you prefer:

details of the findings;
any action we have taken
our proposals to resolve your complaint.

You should submit your complaint as soon as you can after the date on which the event occurred. If you complain more than twelve months later, an investigation may not be possible. However, we shall also consider whether you had a good reason for not making the complaint sooner and whether, despite the delay, it is still possible to investigate effectively and fairly.

If you’re dissatisfied during the complaint process, you can contact the local authority that funds you (if applicable).

Once we have dealt with your complaint but in your opinion, we have failed to respond appropriately, you can refer your complaint to the managing director at De Gelsey House, 1 Jubilee Way, Faversham, Kent ME13 9GD.