Complaints Policy
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We place great emphasis on meeting and, whenever possible, exceeding our patients’ expectations. We try to ensure that all patients are pleased with their experience of our services and we take any concerns a patient may have very seriously.
If you have a concern regarding any aspect of your care, please let us know. We will do all that we can to resolve it to your satisfaction, both promptly and professionally.
Our aim is to respond to patients’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way.
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The person responsible for dealing with any concerns in this practice is Matthew Peters.
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Day to day responsibility for dealing with complaints will be Matthew Peters.
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If you are unhappy about an aspect of your care, speak to a member of the reception staff either by telephone or at the reception desk. After listening to a description of the problem Matthew Peters should be contacted if it cannot be dealt with straight away. Should the designated person or other responsible person not be available at the time, you will be informed when they will be available and arrangements will be made for you to meet with the appropriate person. The member of staff will take brief details of the concern and pass them on to Matthew Peters.
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If you write to express your concern, by letter or email, this will be passed on to the designated person in the case of administrative issues, and for clinical issues, to the treating dentist concerned who is responsible for the clinical care provided.
The contact details to write to are:
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If your concern is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges, the dentist involved and the Principal Dentist will be informed.
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We acknowledge in writing any concerns within three working days. If you have raised a concern in writing, the written acknowledgement will also include a copy of this Code of Practice. We will investigate the concern and report back to you within ten working days. If, for any reason, we are unable to complete our investigations within 15 working days, we will notify your, giving reasons for the delay and the likely period within which the investigation well be completed.
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We will ask you how you would like your complaint to be handled – this gives you control from the outset.
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Should there be any delay we will keep you informed at each stage and the reason for the delay.
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We will confirm the outcome of the investigation and any decisions made in writing.
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Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any concerns/complaints received.
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If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the outcome or the procedure, you may write to the Dental Complaints Service, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ. Private patients can also contact the Care Quality Commission.
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The practice will obviously try to avoid the matter escalating this far, however we understand that, sometimes, it is impossible to resolve matters and this is then the only way to proceed.
Dental Complaints Service https://dcs.gdc-uk.org 020 8253 0800
Care Quality Commission, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA Tel: 03000 616161 www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us
Date reviewed: 23.1.24
Next review: Jan 25
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