PALS
Also called Patient Advice and Liaison Service. That is the name used in diagnostic manuals and on most official paperwork.
A free, confidential service in NHS hospitals in England. If you are stuck chasing a referral, PALS helps you sort it out.
Applies in England
In practice, PALS is who you contact when the normal route has stalled: a referral referral When a professional passes your child on to a specialist team for assessment or treatment. A GP, school or health visitor can usually make one. Read the full definition of referral that seems to have vanished, an appointment nobody can explain, a service that is not answering. Speaking to PALS is not the same as making a formal complaint NHS complaints procedure The formal way to complain when an NHS service gets things wrong or will not act. Every service has a complaints process you can use, and each UK nation runs its own system. Read the full definition of NHS complaints procedure , and it does not put your child at the back of any queue. You can find PALS through your local hospital, your GP surgery or NHS 111. PALS is an England service; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own, differently named body.
Across the UK
- Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS) : In Scotland the equivalent is the Patient Advice and Support Service, an independent service delivered through the Citizens Advice network.
- Llais : In Wales, Llais helps people raise concerns and make complaints about the NHS and social care.
- Patient and Client Council : In Northern Ireland, the Patient and Client Council runs a freephone service for questions, concerns and complaints about health and social care.
Related words
Where this comes from
- What is PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)? , NHS. Checked 2026-08-14.
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