About PALS

At the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, we are fully committed to providing a high-quality patient experience. 

If you are unhappy with any aspect of your hospital experience, please speak to the person in charge of the ward or clinic. We want all our patients to have the best experience possible during your time with us and our staff will do their best to resolve any issues you raise. 

However, if you feel uncomfortable in doing so, or are unable to do so, then the PALS team will endeavour to assist you. PALS is a less formal route for addressing more immediate issues and the service aims to respond in a more informal way within 15 working days.

If you still remain unhappy after your discussions to resolve your concerns, you can make a complaint with our complaints team who will be happy to help you. You are of course free to decide who you want to contact initially in order to resolve your concerns.

Please be aware that the PALS team may need to access the hospital’s appointment system, your medical records and/or liaise with other departments, in order to be able to help you with your enquiry.

What PALS can do

  • If you have a problem with a ward or clinic or member of staff, PALS can talk to them on your behalf to help find a possible resolution.
  • Help with general enquiries about the hospital and its services. 
  • If you have any ideas about how we can make things better, PALS can feed back to the relevant area and let you know the outcome.
  • Take details of praise and compliments you wish to pass on in relation to the care and treatment you have received.
  • If the concern you bring to us is about another trust we will contact the relevant trust so that they help you, or we will give you the information you need to contact the correct trust.

What PALS cannot do

  • offer a counselling service 
  • give you detailed medical information or a medical diagnosis 
  • change or affect a medical decision that has been made 
  • book or change appointments 
  • deal with requests for work experience or volunteer opportunities, references, invoices, job applications and promotional and advertising materials. These requests will not receive a response.

Responding to your feedback

We work hard to provide high standards of hospital care and services. We know how important it is that patients and those who care for them are as happy as possible while with us. 

Our staff love to hear your comments and all feedback is passed back to the team. If anything falls short of the expectations of our patients or their families, we will do all we can to put things right and make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again.

We take all concerns very seriously and will investigate each matter that is raised. We will respond to you as quickly as possible and we use the complaints we receive to improve our services and healthcare for all our patients.

Contact PALS

The PALS team at Barnet Hospital

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service is based on the ground floor of Barnet Hospital, near the main entrance. 

The walk-in service is open Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm.

Tel: 020 8216 4924 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Email: bcfpals@nhs.net

Write to us: Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), Barnet Hospital, Wellhouse Lane, Barnet EN5 3DJ

The PALS team at Chase Farm Hospital

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service is provided by the Patient Experience Team and is available from Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm. 

Tel: 020 8375 1328

Email: rf-tr.cfhpals@nhs.net

Should you wish to speak to a member of the team while at the hospital please ask a member of staff to call the Patient Experience Team on ext 51328.  A member of the team will arrange to meet with you.

The PALS team at the Royal Free Hospital

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service for the Royal Free Hospital is based on the ground floor, opposite the main reception. 

The walk-in service is open Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm.

You can also contact PALS using this form or via the details below:

Tel: 020 7472 6446 or 020 7830 2577 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Write to us: Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG

Download our leaflet to find out more about our service.

Taking things further

We understand that there are times when you may not feel satisfied with the response you receive from the member of hospital staff you have spoken to about your concern, or from the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).

If you wish to take a concern about your care further, you can contact the complaints team of the hospital concerned.