{"id":6172,"date":"2026-09-15T13:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/?page_id=6172"},"modified":"2026-09-15T13:34:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:34:33","slug":"how-long-do-i-have-to-make-a-complaint","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/patient-experience-team-tell-us-about-your-experience\/how-do-i-make-a-complaint\/how-long-do-i-have-to-make-a-complaint\/","title":{"rendered":"How long do I have to make a complaint?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NHS has a time limit for complaints. Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The event you want to complain about, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finding out you have a reason to complain, but no longer than 12 months after the event itself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, if you feel the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please speak to the person dealing with it. A complaint can sometimes be accepted after the time limit. You can complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman about an NHS decision not to accept your complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What if I change my mind after I have complained?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can change your mind about making a complaint at any time. Please let the person handling your complaint know as soon as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NHS has a time limit for complaints. Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of: However, if you feel the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please speak to the person dealing with it. A complaint can sometimes be accepted after the time limit. You can complain to the Scottish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"parent":1323,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-6172","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":"The NHS has a time limit for complaints. Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of: However, if you feel the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please speak to the person dealing with it. A complaint can sometimes be accepted after the time limit. You can complain to the Scottish","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6172","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=6172"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6174,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6172\/revisions\/6174"}],"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=6172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/yourrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}