Complaints Policy

It is very important to us that we meet your needs and expectations. The patient journey is at the heart of all that we do, and we try to ensure that all of our patients are satisfied with their experience of our service. If you are unhappy with your experience for any reason, you may discuss your concerns with our complaints lead. If they are unavailable, the staff member dealing with you at the time will take your details and a brief explanation of the complaint to pass on. Your complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days.

There are different ways of doing this, which depend on issues such as whether your care was provided under the NHS or privately. If you have a complaint about our practice, we ask that it be brought to the attention of the Head Treatment Coordinator in the first instance, who can promptly address your needs.

What we aim to do

1. It is our aim to try to resolve any concerns locally at practice level, and the Treatment Coordinator is responsible for dealing with and investigating all patient complaints.
2. An easy way of expressing your concerns is by filling in our concerns/complaints form, which is available upon request from our receptionists.
3. If you require assistance with making a complaint, patients may wish to contact the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy (IHCA).
4. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges, it will normally be referred to the dentist for their comments, and perhaps individual responses.
5. The dentists are responsible for their own clinical activity, and we ensure that they are adequately insured and indemnified by their own insurance companies whilst they are practicing at our practices.
6. We will acknowledge any complaint within three working days of receipt of the complaint, either verbally or in writing. With our patient’s agreement, we will seek to investigate the complaint and aim to provide a response within 10 working days of the complaint being received.
7. In some cases, it is not possible to provide a response within 10 working days, as it may be necessary to fully investigate all aspects of the complaint and obtain comments from the dentists and/or other professionals involved in the treatment or care. If it is not possible to provide a response within 10 working days, we will inform the patient, in a timely manner, of any unavoidable delays.
8. If complaining on behalf of someone, please note that we will need their written express consent to share their confidential information.9. In order to request patient records, a request can be made to the Compliance Manager, who will follow the guidelines set out by the Data Protection Act to release these. The simplest way to request records is to complete our Records Request Form.

Complaints on behalf of someone else

Please note that we strictly adhere to the rules of clinical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of physical or mental illness) of providing this.

If after speaking to the practice team you would like to further discuss any issues, your options to complain are as follows…

Stage 1– If your complaint is in relation to NHS Treatments that you have received, then please contact the Complaints Manager:
NHS North West London
15 Marylebone Road
London
NW1 5JD
Tel: 0203 350 4567
Email: [email protected]

For Private Treatments: If your complaint relates to Private Treatments that you have received, then please contact:
Head Treatment Coordinator
13 The Broadwalk
Pinner Road
North Harrow
HA2 6ED
Tel: 020 8427 2264
Email: [email protected]

Stage 2
If you are unhappy with the responses received from the NHS Commissioning Board, then you can take up your issues with the Health Service Parliamentary Ombudsman:
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 015 4033
Web: www.ombudsman.org.uk