ICAS can

• help clients identify the options for taking forward their complaint(s) about NHS services
• make sure lessons from users' experiences of the NHS are fed back into the service and to those responsible for scrutinising the NHS.

ICAS cannot

• help with complaints about private healthcare treatment or services that arise outside of the NHS
• assist clients who want to or who are already involved in litigation concerning a complaint about NHS services
• directly investigate complaints
• discipline or dismiss NHS staff.