Complaints Procedure
Complaints procedure
We strive to delight and exceed your expectations. Without your support, we simply could not operate and save lives in our region. However, we acknowledge that there may be times when we do not meet our own high standards. When this does happen we want to hear about it, deal with the situation as quickly as possible and put measures in place to prevent a recurrence.
We take complaints very seriously and treat them as an opportunity to improve. We are always very grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve. If your complaint relates to patient matters or our HEMS service, please visit our patients and relatives pages to raise a concern. If your complaint is about fundraising, or any of our charitable activities, please contact:
Victoria Friar
Head of Supporter Services
Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex
Rochester City Airport
Maidstone Road
Chatham
Kent
ME5 9SD
Telephone:Â 01634 471 900
Email:Â hello@aakss.org.uk
Please include your name, address and contact telephone number in any communications to ensure that we are able to contact you.Â
We believe that the best way to understand and resolve a problem is to speak on the telephone, therefore we may initially contact you to ensure that we fully understand the issue and can gather all of the information that we need to resolve the problem in a fast and effective way.
In more complex situations where an immediate response is not possible, we will investigate your concerns and get back to you as quickly as we can. We will record your complaint and between us we can agree on the best way and time to get back in contact with you.
Our commitment to you
- We will endeavour to respond to all complaints within 10 working days (if we believe your complaint may take longer, we will let you know as soon as possible)
- We will acknowledge every complaint within five days of receipt
- We will always treat you with courtesy and respect, listen to what you say, keep you informed about our progress, provide you with a prompt response and tell you who to go to if you want to escalate your complaint further
Escalating your complaint
We truly hope that we will be able to resolve your complaint in an honest, open and satisfactory way. However, if after contacting us, you are still unhappy then you can write to our Chief Executive.
Please outline the details of the complaint, why you have not been satisfied with our response up to now and what you would like us to do to put things right.
David Welch
Chief Executive
Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex
Rochester City Airport
Maidstone Road
Chatham
Kent
ME5 9SD
The Fundraising Regulator
We’re registered with the Fundraising Regulator (FR) and are committed to the highest standards in fundraising practice. If your complaint is to do with fundraising, and after following our procedure, feel that it has not been resolved then the FR can investigate your complaint. You can contact the Fundraising Regulator at the address below:
Â
Fundraising Regulator
2nd floor, CAN Mezzanine Building
49-51 East Road
London
N1 6AH
Telephone:Â 0300 999 3407
Email:Â enquiries@fundraisingregulator.org.uk
The Charity Commission
If your complaint is related to a non-fundraising  area of our work and you do not feel completely satisfied by our response then you can contact the Charity Commission at the address below:
Charity Commission
PO Box 1227
Liverpool
L69 3UG
Telephone:Â 0845 300 0218
Website:Â www.charity-commission.gov.uk
Betting Adjudication Service
The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) is a gambling-specialist Alternative Dispute Resolution Service and adjudicates between gambling operators and their customers. If your dispute is related to the operation of our Lottery draws, and after following our complaints procedure, you feel that the dispute has not been resolved then you can raise it with IBAS using the details below:
Independent Betting Adjudication Service
PO Box 62639
London
EC3P 3AS
Telephone:Â 020 7347 5883
Website:Â https://www.ibas-uk.com/
Exceptions to this process
There may be very rare occasions when we choose not to respond to a complaint. These include:Â
- When a complaint is about something that we have no direct connection to, we may choose to reply for clarification purposes but we are not obliged to
- When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to, they will be given escalation points but we may choose not to reply again and we will always inform the complainant of our decision to do this
- When a complainant is being abusive, prejudiced or offensive in their manner
- When a complainant is harassing a staff member
- When a complaint is incoherent or illegible
- When a complaint has clearly been sent to us and numerous other organisations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance we can choose whether it is necessary for us to reply or not
- We can’t respond to complaints made anonymously but we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can
