Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

What we do

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is a free, confidential and impartial service for people using AWP’s mental health services. We offer advice, information, support, or guidance with particular issues.

We can help if:

you are worried about something but are not sure what to do or where to go.
you need to understand a situation better.
you want someone to listen to your experience of services.
you need other information or help.

We can guide you through the different services available in AWP and also tell you about other mental health services in the NHS or other independent organisations.

You can talk to PALS in confidence about any concerns or comments you might have about your care or someone you care for.

We can:

help you to resolve situations and concerns quickly without having to go through the formal complaints system.
support you through the formal complaints system if this is what you want.
pass on praise and compliments to staff and services if you have had a good experience.
help staff or other individuals report something they have seen happening in a service that they feel uneasy or suspicious about.

Please see our useful links section below to find out how you can make a complaint or report a problem.

All our services work hard to provide a high standard of care, but sometimes things do go wrong. In the first instance raise your concern with a member of staff so that we can work with you to try to put things right as quickly as possible, so that the Trust can take learning from what has happened. If you would like support to liaise with staff to resolve your concern the PALS service are there to help you.

Alternatively the PALS service can assist you with making a complaint and can guide you through the process. Click here to find out how to make a complaint.

NHS England has worked together with Speakup – an organisation who encourage people with autism and learning disablities to speak up for themselves about things that are important to them – on Ask Listen Do.

Ask Listen Do supports organisations like ours to learn from and improve the experiences of people with a learning disability, autism or both, their families and carers when giving us feedback, raising a concern or making a complaint.

It also makes it easier for people, their families or carers to give us feedback, raise concerns and complain.

You can find separate easy-read advice and forms to complete for feedback, concerns and complaints on the Speakup website or download them from the links below:

Tips for people with learning disabilities

Feedback, concerns and complaints form for people with learning disabilities

Our service is available to everyone who uses AWP's mental health services, including their families, carers or anyone who needs advice about our services.

PALS leaflet

Easy read leaflet

Compliments, comments or complaints leaflet

Complaints and concerns policy