Rights & choices · England
Your local NHS board
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Your area has an integrated care board.
People call it the ICB.
Ask about the ICB’s decision
The ICB plans and pays for many NHS services.
Your hospital or care team may provide the service.
Ask who made a decision about your care.
Ask them to explain their reasons.
Ask for information you understand.
Say what helps you communicate.
Challenge or complain
Ask how to challenge the decision.
Different decisions have different review processes.
You can complain when something goes wrong.
Choose the service provider or its commissioner.
Do not send the same complaint to both.
You can ask for free NHS complaints advocacy.
An advocate can help you explain the problem.
Explain the problem
Write what happened and when.
Explain how it affected you.
Say what you want to happen.
Complain as soon as you can.
Ask about deadlines and when you will get a reply.
Replies and further help
Keep the reply and read it with support.
Check whether your questions were answered.
You can ask the Ombudsman about an unresolved complaint.
It checks whether the NHS handled things properly.
Say immediately if missing support puts you at risk.
Ask who can arrange help now.
You can also help shape local NHS services.
Ask about accessible meetings and ways to give your views.
What you can do next
You can ask: Who should I contact about this decision?
Please help me use the right process.
Find your integrated care board Web pageThis link opens another website.
It may use harder words.
More useful links
- Find your ICB Web page
Official local contact directory; check the relevant service and complaints team.
- NHS complaints explained Web page
Choosing the provider or commissioner route and getting help.
- Public Service Ombudsman complaint checker and accessible forms Web page
Escalating unresolved NHS complaints, including Easy Read information.
- Find community care legal aid advice Web page
Find a regulated adviser who can check whether legal aid is available.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Your integrated care board: decisions, challenges and complaints
Understand your ICB, find the right contact, ask for decisions to be explained and make an accessible NHS complaint.
England · NHS services, funding decisions and complaints
What an ICB is
An integrated care board, or ICB, is an NHS organisation responsible for planning and arranging many health services and managing its NHS budget. It works with hospitals, GPs, community services and other partners. It makes adult NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility decisions and arranges packages for eligible people. The ICB is different from your council and from the provider delivering your treatment. Knowing which organisation made a decision helps you send a challenge to the right place.
Find the right team
Use NHS England’s ICB directory and your ICB’s official website. Your GP practice can also help identify the local organisation. Ask for the relevant team: continuing healthcare, patient experience or complaints, an individual funding request team, or the team responsible for the service. Where people live out of area or responsibilities are shared, ask the organisations to confirm who is responsible. Current commissioning arrangements vary by service; do not assume every NHS complaint belongs to the ICB.
Ask for the decision in a usable form
Request the decision, date, reasons, evidence considered, policy applied, review rights and deadline. Ask who is accountable for the decision and who can explain it. Say if information is inaccurate or an assessment is missing. Ask how your communication, disability-related access needs and views were considered. You can request Easy Read, a supported explanation, accessible electronic information or another format that works for you. Keep copies and make a short note of calls.
Match the problem to its process
CHC eligibility has its own review route; use the linked CHC challenge guide. A dispute about an awarded care package’s adequacy usually needs care planning and NHS complaints. An individual funding request for a treatment has its own local policy and review process, so obtain the relevant refusal letter and deadlines. Complaints can address poor communication, delay, accessibility, unfair process or service failures. Making a general complaint does not automatically pause a separate appeal or legal deadline.
Provider or commissioner: choose one complaint route
For NHS care, you can normally complain to the organisation providing the service or to the commissioner arranging it, but not both about the same matter. For many GP, dental, pharmacy, hospital, community and mental health services, the commissioner route is through the ICB. For an ICB’s own funding or administrative decision, contact the ICB. If more than one organisation is involved, ask them to agree a lead and provide a coordinated response, with appropriate information-sharing arrangements.
Get help before or while complaining
You can raise a concern directly with the team if you wish. Hospital PALS can help resolve practical problems, especially during a stay; it is not the same as independent advocacy. You can also use a formal complaint without having to accept informal handling. Free independent NHS complaints advocacy can help you understand the process, prepare a complaint and attend meetings. Your local Healthwatch or council can identify the provider. Do not assume an advocate can provide legal or clinical advice.
What to put in your complaint
State what happened, when, who was involved and how it affected you. Separate facts, your experience and questions that need answering. Explain the outcome you want, such as a correction, a new assessment, an apology, an access adjustment or a safer support arrangement. Attach relevant documents rather than every record. Include a safe way to contact you, access needs and who may help represent you. If complaining for another adult, ask what consent or other authority is required; family relationship alone is not blanket permission.
Time limits and response
An NHS complaint should normally be made within 12 months of the event, or of becoming aware of it. A late complaint can be considered where there is good reason for delay and a fair investigation remains possible. You can complain verbally, in writing or electronically; a verbal complaint should be recorded and a copy given to you. Acknowledgement and an offer to discuss handling should normally arrive within three working days. There is no single national deadline for the full response: agree a realistic timescale and ask for updates.
Check the final response
Compare the response with your original issues. Has each point been answered? Are the records and reasons accurate? Does it say what will change, who will act and by when? Ask for clarification of unanswered matters. Keep the final response because it should explain escalation. If you remain dissatisfied after the local NHS process, you can ask the Public Service Ombudsman to consider the complaint. The Ombudsman is independent of the NHS and decides what it can investigate.
Ombudsman deadlines and limits
The usual limit for contacting the Ombudsman is one year from becoming aware of the problem, not automatically one year after the final local response. Contact it promptly if the NHS process has taken a long time; explain any delay. It may recommend action where it finds fault and injustice, but it does not replace clinical decision-makers or automatically award a requested treatment or CHC package. Its website has a complaint checker and Easy Read complaint forms.
When support or safety cannot wait
A complaint is not an emergency response. Tell the clinical team or responsible care manager immediately about a gap that may harm you. Ask the ICB and relevant provider or council for a named contact and a written interim plan. Use urgent health services for urgent illness, and safeguarding routes for suspected abuse or neglect. Seek prompt community care or public law advice if essential care, funding or your home is at immediate risk. Ask an adviser about legal aid; eligibility depends on the circumstances.
Have a say in future services
You can also influence services without making an individual complaint. Look for ICB public board meetings, involvement groups and consultations, and contact local Healthwatch. Ask for accessible ways to contribute and what will happen to your feedback. Public participation is separate from getting your own decision reviewed. Ask the ICB how people with learning disabilities, family carers and people with communication needs are involved in changes that affect them.
The Ombudsman’s new name
The Public Service Ombudsman was previously called the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, or PHSO. The name changed on 1 October 2026. Its legal powers and complaint processes stayed the same. Older letters and information may use the former name.
Words you could use
“Please explain the decision, the evidence and policy used, and the correct review or complaints route. I need [access support]. Please confirm my deadline, the named contact and any interim support while this is considered.”
More useful links
- Find your ICB Web page
Official local contact directory; check the relevant service and complaints team.
- NHS complaints explained Web page
Choosing the provider or commissioner route and getting help.
- Public Service Ombudsman complaint checker and accessible forms Web page
Escalating unresolved NHS complaints, including Easy Read information.
- Find community care legal aid advice Web page
Find a regulated adviser who can check whether legal aid is available.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Where the information comes from
Links checked 1 November 2026.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
- NHS England: commissioning Web page
What commissioning means and the ICB role.
- NHS England: ICB contacts Web page
Identifying local ICBs and appropriate complaints contacts.
- NHS England: feedback and complaints Web page
Complaint routes, advocacy, consent, time limits and acknowledgement.
- NHS complaints regulations 2009 Web page
Legal framework for acknowledgement, cooperation and complaint handling.
- NHS Constitution handbook Web page
Complaint rights, investigation and agreed handling timescales.
- Public Service Ombudsman: NHS complaints Web page
Escalation, complaint checker, accessible forms and usual time limit.
- Public Service Ombudsman: what it can and cannot help with Web page
Ombudsman powers and limits.
- NHS England: people and communities Web page
Participation duties and involving people in health service decisions.
- Ministry of Justice: community care advisers Web page
Finding legal aid advice and eligibility checks.
- Public Service Ombudsman: name change Web page
Official announcement on 1 October 2026; name changed, powers and processes unchanged.
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