Complaints & Feedback

POLICY FOR HANDLING PATIENT COMPLAINTS

We hope that you will never need to complain, and should any aspect of your care at this practice be a matter you wish to discuss please do feel able to call us.  In this practice we take complaints seriously and try to ensure that all patients are pleased with their experience of our service.

Our aim is to react to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled.  We respond to patients’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

  1.  The person responsible for dealing with any complaint about the service we provide is  Mrs Zoë Rosenbaum, Practice Manager, and in her absence Mr Nigel Rosenbaum,  Dental Surgeon.
  2.  If a patient complains on the telephone or at the reception desk, we will listen to the  complaint and offer to refer him or her to Mrs Rosenbaum immediately.  If Mrs  Rosenbaum is not available at the time, then the patient will be told when they will be  able to talk to her and arrangements will be made for this to happen.  The member of  staff will take brief details of the complaint and pass them on.  If we cannot arrange  this within a reasonable period or if the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the  matter, arrangements will be made for someone else to deal with it.
  3. If the patient complains in writing the letter will be passed on immediately to Mrs         Rosenbaum.
  4. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the dentist, unless the patient does not want this to happen.
  5. Where the complaint has not already been discussed with the patient we will acknowledge the complaint in writing, normally within two working days. We will seek to investigate the complaint within ten working days of the complaint being received to give an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint. If the patient does not wish to meet us, then we will attempt to talk to him or her on the telephone.  If we are unable to investigate the complaint within ten working days we will notify the patient, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.
  6. We will confirm the decision about the complaint in writing to the patient immediately after completing our investigation.
  7. Proper and comprehensive reports are kept of any complaint received.
  8. If patients are not satisfied with the result of our procedure then a complaint may be made to:

The General Dental Council,
37 Wimpole Street, London W1M 8DQ        (the dentists’ registration body)

Following a complaint the practice may need to provide information about the patient, and the treatment received, to insurers or legal advisers.