Patient Complaints Procedure

As an award winning practice we pride ourselves in offering the very best in care and customer service and are constantly working to exceed your expectations during your entire treatment experience.

Whether you are currently undertaking general dental care, or a range of cosmetic or dental implant treatments, we would like to know if we have failed you in any way.

Our aim is to react to a complaint or any feedback you have to offer in a manner we would expect to receive if we were in your position.

We treat all complaints seriously and with equal merit. All complaints are dealt with in a courteous and prompt manner so that the matter can be resolved as quickly as possible.

To help you raise any concerns you may have about the care you have received, we have outlined below our code of practice for making a complaint.

Clifton Dental Studio complaints procedure
If a complaint or concern arises about the service received from the dentist or any of the staff working in the practice, it is important to let us know.

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If the problem cannot be resolved in this way and it is necessary to make a complaint, please inform us as soon as possible. This should happen within days or at most a few weeks. This will help us to establish what happened soon after the event.

Complaints should be presented to the practice in written form as soon as possible and for the attention of our complaints manager – Ms. Julie McCann. She will then ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.

As emails cannot always be guaranteed to reach us, we advise that all such correspondence should be sent via recorded/special delivery postage.

Action
We aim to acknowledge all complaints within three working days and aim to investigate the complaint within ten working days from the date received. We shall then be in a position to offer an explanation, or a meeting with those involved. In investigating a complaint, we shall aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Arrange for discussion of the problem with those concerned if preferred
• Rectify the situation for the satisfaction of both parties
• Identify a means to ensure the situation does not happen again

If the patient does not wish to meet us, then we will attempt to talk to them on the telephone. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within ten working days we will notify the patient, outlining the reasons for such a delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.

Complaining on behalf of someone else
Rules of confidentiality are adhered to strictly in this practice. Complaints involving third parties cannot be entered into without written and signed consent of the injured party. This situation would only occur in extreme situations where an individual is unable to communicate because of physical or mental illness.

Outcome
Following our investigation we will confirm the outcome of any decision in writing.

Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received.

If a patient is not satisfied with the resulting decision or complaints procedure, then further complaint may be made to:

The Dental Complaints Service:
For private dental care, the Dental Complaints Service should be your first point of call. They act to mediate between patient and dentist, offering a free impartial service to all patients receiving private dental care.

The Dental Complaints Service can be contacted at:
The Lansdowne Building, 2 Lansdowne Road, Croydon, Greater London CR9 2ER (Telephone: 08456 120 540) for complaints about private treatment

The General Dental Council (GDC):
37 Wimpole Street, London, W1M 8DQ (Telephone: 0845 222 4141), the dentists’ regulatory body for complaints about professional misconduct The GDC also offers a ‘typetalk’ facility for customers with impaired hearing. This can be accessed by calling 18001 0845 222 4141 on your typetalk/minicom handset.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:
Millbank Tower, Millbank London SW1P 4QP, telephone: 0345 015 4033