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Formerly St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Image of PALS lettering with image of hospital showing through

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) provides impartial advice and assistance in answering questions and resolving concerns that patients, their relatives, friends, and carers might have when accessing the NHS services provided by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Enquirers that are unhappy with any aspect of their care are advised to speak to a member of staff on the ward or in the department they are being treated in as soon as possible. If they feel unable to speak directly to staff, then they are advised to contact PALS who will be able to assist. The team can also visit patients and carers on the ward if they are unable to visit the PALS office. Very often problems can be resolved straight away, so please speak to a member of staff or contact PALS as soon as possible.

Aims of the PALS team:

  • Listen to patients' concerns, queries, and suggestions
  • Advise and support patients, their families, and their carers
  • Help resolve problems quickly on your behalf by liaising with the relevant teams
  • Pass on your comments and suggestions on improving our hospital services to the relevant management.
  • If we are unable to resolve your concerns we can provide you with information about the Trusts formal complaints process and should you require assistance in making a complaint, we can provided you information on the independent complaints advocacy service

What PALS cannot do:

  • offer a counselling service
  • give you detailed medical information or a medical diagnosis
  • change or affect a medical decision that has been made
  • book or change appointments
  • deal with requests for work experience or volunteer opportunities, references, invoices, job applications and promotional and advertising materials. These requests will not receive a response.

Please note PALS is not an emergency service. If you have concerns regarding your medical health, please contact your GP or 111.

If you require information relating to:

Blood test appointments

To book an appointment for the adult phlebotomy clinic please visit https://sthk.simplybook.cc/v2/ If you are unable to access the online booking system please make an appointment by calling 0808 196 4500 Monday to Friday, 12 noon to 3pm.

For children’s appointments, please telephone 0151 430 1702

Appointment enquiries

You can contact our appointments team on 0151 430 1234. Lines are open Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm or visit https://www.sthk.nhs.uk/your-appointment

Waiting list information

You can contact the waiting list call centre on 01744 647 497. Lines are open Monday – Thursday 8am-8pm and Friday 8am-5pm or you can visit https://www.sthk.nhs.uk/my-planned-care

Requesting health records/subject access enquiries – please email  AccessAndDisclosure@sthk.nhs.uk

Clinician reference requests – please email Lead.Employer@sthk.nhs.uk

Bank staff reference requests  – please email Employment.Services@sthk.nhs.uk

Please note that this team is not a Workforce or Clinical Service and therefore cannot provide medical or Workforce information or advice

Concerns relating to GP or Dental Practices:

Everyone who provides an NHS service in England must have their own complaints procedure.

You can often find information in waiting rooms, at reception, on the service provider’s website, or by asking a member of staff.

You can either complain to the NHS service provider directly (such as a GP, dentist surgery or hospital) or to the commissioner of the services, which is the body that pays for the NHS services you use. You cannot complain to both.

In the event of a complaint about more than one organisation – perhaps a complaint that includes issues about your GP, local hospital and ambulance service – the organisations must work together to make sure you get a co-ordinated response.

How do I find the commissioner?

Contact your local integrated care board (ICB) for complaints about primary care services (GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacists) and secondary care, such as hospital care, mental health services, out-of-hours services, NHS 111 and community services like district nursing.

Every ICB will have its own complaints procedure, which is often displayed on its website.

Find your local integrated care board (ICB)

If your concern is about another NHS Trust which does not fall under the remit of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, details of how you can contact their PALs team can usually be found on their website or by telephoning their switchboard and asking to be put through to the PALs team. 

 

How to contact the PALS team:

PALS opening hours: Monday to Friday 09.00am to 5.00pm (excluding bank holidays)

You can contact the team via one of the following methods:

  • You can arrange an appointment or drop into the department at any time between office opening hours. To arrange an appointment, please telephone or email the team Please note, if you do not make an appointment and PALS Officer is not available when you arrive, you will be required to arrange an appointment either later the same day or an alternative day that suits your availability. 
  • Telephone: 0151 430 1376 (Please note all incoming and outgoing PALS calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes)
  •  Email: pals@sthk.nhs.uk
  • Or by completing the online PALS webform below

Please note if you are contacting PALS on behalf of someone else, we will need consent from that person to investigate your enquiry.

PALS Satisfaction Survey

The PALS satisfaction survey has been developed by the Patient Experience Team to ask you about your experience whilst accessing our PALS service, you may be asked to complete this survey once your concerns have been dealt with by the team. If you wish to opt out of completing this survey, please let a member of the PALS team know.

The Trust is committed to making the process of raising a concern as easy as possible and appreciates that raising a concern can be very difficult. Please be assured that your responses are anonymous, so whether or not you take part in this survey, and that if you do so whatever you tell us, will have no effect on any treatment you or your loved ones receive now or in the future.  We hope that you feel able to help.  

You can complete the survey here https://www.sthk.nhs.uk/pals-satisfaction-survey

Online PALS Webform

Date* Please use dd/mm/yyyy format

Type of Query* Please select from the dropdown menu.

Full Name*

Telephone Number*

Email Address*

Preferred Method of Contact:*

Is your enquiry about you?*

If you are not the affected person, please complete the following or type N/A:

*Please note if you are not the affected person, consent will be required to proceed with your concern/enquiry.

Affected patients full name*

Affected patient date of birth* Please use dd/mm/yyyy format

Affected patient home address*

Is the affected patient an inpatient? If so please advise of ward/location*

Are you next of kin of the patient affected?*

Message*

Would you be willing to complete a satisfaction survey once PALS has resolved your concern/enquiry?*

By sharing your details you have given permission for the Trust to contact you in regards to this query.

Relevant Leaflets

Patients are eligible for free NHS treatment at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching hospitals NHS Trust if they are: Ordinarily resident in the
UK or: Overseas visitors, but entitled to free NHS services under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations

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