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Write your complaints procedure and the acknowledgement and final-response letter templates
The final Order requires a written complaints process with set timings and content, a named contact for each complaint, a decision tree and an approved mediation provider. Practices already deal with complaints, but the Order requires a written procedure with set timings. AI can turn your own decisions into a procedure and into letter templates. It does not decide whether a complaint has merit, and no clinical details go in.
Time: About 2 hours onceTool cost: you can start with a free AI tool
Steps
- Read Article 21 of the Order. Write a list of what the procedure must say, and decide who the named contact is for each site and who covers when they are away.
- Pick your ADR provider and check it is approved and free for pet owners to use, as Article 23 requires.
- Paste the list into the prompt and ask for a plain-English procedure and two letter templates (acknowledgement and final response) with blanks for everything specific to a case.
- Add the RCVS decision tree as the Order requires, exactly as the RCVS publishes it. Do not edit it.
- Have your practice owner and clinical lead check the procedure, then publish it on the website, keep a paper copy at reception and add where to find it to invoices.
The exact prompt
I manage a UK independent vet practice. Write a plain-English complaints procedure and two letter templates using ONLY the facts below. Use blanks in square brackets for anything about a particular case. Do not include or invent any clinical detail, and do not say that any complaint will be upheld. What our procedure must contain (my notes from Article 21 of the CMA Order): [paste the list: how to complain, the informal stage and its time limit, written acknowledgement time limit, full response time limit and what happens if more time is needed, the named contact, the decision tree, mediation]. Our named contact per site: [role, not a personal name]. Our approved mediation provider: [name and how pet owners reach it]. Produce: (1) the procedure in under 500 words with short headings; (2) an acknowledgement letter template; (3) a final-response template with headings for what we understood the complaint to be, what we looked at, what we are offering to do (blank for us to fill in) and the next steps including mediation.
✓ Check before you send
- Every time limit in the procedure matches Article 21 of the Order.
- The letters contain no clinical statements; a vet writes any clinical explanation.
- The RCVS decision tree is included unedited where the Order requires it.
- The named contact and a back-up are real roles that will answer within the time limits.
- The procedure is published on the website and available on paper, and the invoice says where to find it.
UK notes extra
- Article 21 of the final Order (UK-wide) requires a written process. A complaint not resolved informally within ten working days becomes an actionable complaint, which must be acknowledged in writing within five working days. A full response is due within eight weeks of becoming actionable, or 12 weeks at most if you write within the eight weeks to explain why more time is needed. Note that the CMA's guidance page summarises the first stage differently, so rely on the Order. The Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 (PDF).
- Article 23 requires you to choose an ADR provider approved under the relevant regulations and free to the pet owner, and to take part in mediation in good faith where the criteria are met. The compliance date for these Articles is 22 March 2027 for all businesses per the Article 3 table. CMA: Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 (final, published 22 September 2026) and schedules.
- The RCVS publishes a decision tree of the routes to redress open to a pet owner. The Order requires you to include it in your process and display it at reception and on the website. CMA: small veterinary businesses, complying with the CMA's Order (14 or fewer practices).
Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑