Complaints Policy

Dental Solutions is committed to providing a high quality service to every patient that enters our practice. We consider a complaint any expression of dissatisfaction with the service provided. In this practice we listen to your complaints, treat them very seriously and do our utmost to try to ensure that all our patients have a positive experience of our service. All complaints are dealt with swiftly and courteously so that the matter at hand is resolved as quickly as possible. Our aim is to respond to complaints in a manner in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We try our best to learn from every mistake that we make and to rectify the problem to the best of our abilities. The person responsible for dealing with any complaint about the service we provide here at Dental Solutions is the Practice Owner.

• If a patient complains on the telephone or in person, we will listen to their complaint and offer a solution to the issue whenever possible. If we are unable to provide an adequate explanation and/or solution to the complaint we will refer the patient to the Practice Owner. If the Practice Owner is not available at the time, the patient will be informed when it will be possible to contact the Practice Owner in person and arrangements will be made for this to happen. A member of staff will take brief details of the complaint and pass them on to the Practice Owner. If we cannot arrange a meeting with the Practice Owner within a reasonable period or if the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the matter, arrangements will be made for a member of staff to deal with it.

• If the patient complains in writing or by email, the Practice Owner will be informed immediately. If a complaint concerns any aspect of clinical care or any charges associated with clinical care, the complaint will be referred to the dentist concerned, unless the patient expresses that they do not wish for this to happen.

• We will acknowledge the patient’s complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice within three working days.

• We aim to analyse the complaint and the circumstances which led to the complaint within ten working days of receipt of the complaint. If the patient does not wish to meet us in person then we will attempt to resolve the issue over the telephone. In certain circumstances, if we are unable to analyse the complaint made within ten working days we will inform the patient, providing an explanation for the delay and a probable time period within which the inquiry will be completed.

• We will inform the patient about the outcome of the investigation into the complaint in writing immediately after completing our investigation.

• Thorough and comprehensive records are kept of all complaints received as well as any actions taken to rectify all complaints and to improve services provided as a consequence of any complaint made against us.

• If patients are not satisfied with the outcome of our investigation, then a complaint may be made to:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Telephone: 0345 015 4033 www.ombudsman.org.uk

The Dental Complaints Service, The Lansdowne Building, 2 Lansdowne Road, Croydon, Greater London, CR9 2ER. Telephone: 08456 120 540 www.dentalcomplaints.org.ukThe General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London. W1N 8DQ. Telephone: 0845 222 4141, the dentists’ regulatory body for complaints about professional misconduct