{"id":6168,"date":"2026-09-15T13:18:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/?page_id=6168"},"modified":"2026-09-15T16:17:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:17:40","slug":"who-can-complain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/patient-experience-team-tell-us-about-your-experience\/how-do-i-make-a-complaint\/who-can-complain\/","title":{"rendered":"Who can complain?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NHS Lothian welcomes and values all feedback, and anyone can provide it. Feedback includes compliments, enquiries, comments, concerns and complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Can I provide Feedback on another person\u2019s behalf?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are complaining for another person, NHS Lothian will need to check that the person has agreed to you making the complaint on their behalf. We will also need to check they have consented to personal information about their healthcare being shared as part of the complaints-handling process. If they have not agreed or consented, NHS Lothian will need to take this into account when handling and responding to your complaint. However, all complaints are recorded and reviewed because this helps NHS Lothian identify ways of improving services. You can complain for another person if:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You have a welfare power of attorney or a welfare guardianship order for someone who cannot make decisions for themselves, and the order permits you to make a complaint about health care<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You are a relative of, or were in a relationship with, a patient who has died and you are concerned about how they were treated before they died, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You are acting as an advocate for the patient (see page for more about advocacy).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are not the patient, we will need to obtain their consent so that we can act on this information, you can download a consent form\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/09\/Consent-Form.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong> .\u00a0 Please note that the form requires a \u2018wet signature\u2019, we can accept a photograph of the completed form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NHS Lothian welcomes and values all feedback, and anyone can provide it. Feedback includes compliments, enquiries, comments, concerns and complaints. Can I provide Feedback on another person&rsquo;s behalf? If you are complaining for another person, NHS Lothian will need to check that the person has agreed to you making the complaint on their behalf. We<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"parent":1323,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-6168","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"anamezzomo","author_link":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/blog\/author\/anamezzomo\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"NHS Lothian welcomes and values all feedback, and anyone can provide it. Feedback includes compliments, enquiries, comments, concerns and complaints. Can I provide Feedback on another person&rsquo;s behalf? If you are complaining for another person, NHS Lothian will need to check that the person has agreed to you making the complaint on their behalf. We","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6224,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6168\/revisions\/6224"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}