Page updated: 21 Jul 2011
Patient Advice and Liaison Service - PALS
What is the Patient Advice and Liaison Service?
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, or PALS, is a confidential information and advice service for patients, relatives and carers.
The customer care and experience team at NHS Trafford provides PALS and can give information, advice and help to local people about NHS services.
What services does PALS cover?
PALS is here to help you, particularly with any difficulties you may have with services provided by:
• NHS Trafford (primary care trust) itself
• Family doctors (GPs), dentists, opticians and pharmacists
Is PALS a national service?
All NHS Trusts in England have their own PALS service. This includes hospitals, ambulance services, primary care organisations and community service providers.
How PALS can help?
We recognise that whether you are a patient, a relative, a carer, a friend of a patient or any other member of the public, you may have questions or concerns about NHS Trafford’s services. For example, a local resident may contact us if they:
- Want to compliment someone about the care they have received.
- Need some information about NHS services but do not know where to get it.
- Have concerns but do not necessarily want to complain.
- Want to complain but are not sure how to do this.
- Want help to sort out a problem quickly.
- Would just like to speak to someone about their concerns but are not sure who to speak to.
- Would like to tell NHS Trafford what they think about the services that are currently being delivered, be it positive or negative.
- Want to know about resources for independent advice or advocacy organisations if you want independent assistance with your concerns.
- Want to provide feedback and make comments so that we can learn from your experience.
- Offer advice on the complaints process and provide information on who to contact for practical help to make a complaint.
The PALS team can help patients and their families to deal with particular concerns by liaising with health care staff, managers and others to resolve problems and provide prompt solutions.
We are here to help you if you need information or advice about local health services. We can also provide practical help if you experience any problems whilst using our services. We will strive to help you resolve your problems or answer your concerns as quickly as possible.
Can you contact PALS about something that happened in hospital or via a community health service provider?
Yes you can but it is usually best to contact the hospital’s PALS direct. We can pass the information you give us on to them (with your permission). There is a PALS at Trafford Healthcare Trust which covers Trafford General and Altrincham General hospitals (for most of the services they provide) and the telephone number is 0161 746 2019.
For Trafford community services such as district nursing, health visiting, podiatry, continence, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and community dentists, the contact number is 0161 975 4753.
Is PALS a confidential service?
All information provided to PALS is confidential. We will only contact other people in order to resolve the issues you raise with your permission or to refer you query, comment or suggestion to another organisation.
Information relating to your concerns will be held on a database, which will only be accessed by PALS staff. This information will be used to monitor the type and number of concerns received by PALS in order to help improve our services to you. All information contained within monitoring reports is anonymous.
Only in exceptional cases where your safety or that of others must be considered will we have to pass on information.
PALS does not provide
- Advocacy and counselling.
- Medical help or advice - PALS teams are not medical teams.
What if PALS can’t answer my questions?
We will always try to provide you with the information you need or refer you on to someone who can help (with your permission). If we don’t know the answer, we will find someone who does, for example, other support agencies, self-help groups, and voluntary groups.
How do I get help out of hours?
Outside of office hours and during weekends and public holidays you can leave a message on the PALS confidential answer phone. We aim to give an initial reply to messages left during these times on the next available working day.
If you feel you need health information and advice now, you could contact NHS Direct on 0845 4647. NHS Direct is a 24-hour nurse-led helpline providing confidential healthcare advice and information on:
- What to do if you're feeling ill
- Health concerns for you and your family
- Local health services
- Self-help and support organisations
Calls to NHS Direct are charged at local rates
If PALS doesn’t solve the problem, what next?
Using PALS doesn’t prevent you having other options. If PALS cannot resolve the situation to your satisfaction, you can still use the complaints process and we will explain how to do this and provide you with contact details for the agency that can support you.
How do I make a complaint?
If you are unhappy about any health service you can make a complaint. The NHS has a procedure it follows to deal with complaints and make sure patients receive full answers to the issues they raise. More information on NHS Trafford’s Complaints Procedure can be accessed via the complaints page.
How can I contact PALS?
Telephone 0161 873 9577, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Fax: 0161 873 9501
If you use a text phone, you can access the text relay service by dialling 18001 then 0161 873 9577.
We are here during office hours, though we may be busy helping other people. If no-one is available to take your call please leave a message on our answer phone and we will ring you back. We aim to return all messages, where possible, within one working day.
Write to us at:
Customer care and experience department
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
2nd Floor
Oakland House
Talbot Road
Old Trafford Manchester M16 0PQ
E-mail us: palspct@trafford.nhs.uk
Download the PALS leaflet here.