If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the dentists or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure. Our complaint system adheres to national criteria.

Hilsea Dental Clinic takes complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. This procedure is based on these objectives.

Our aim is to react to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We learn from every mistake that we make and we respond to customers’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

• The person responsible for dealing with any complaint about the service which we provide is our Practice Manager, Anna Ziomek

• If a patient complains on the telephone or at the reception desk, we will listen to their complaint and offer to refer him or her to the Practice Manager immediately. If the Practice Manager is not available at the time, then the patient will be told when they will be able to talk to the dentist and arrangements will be made. 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.

• If the patient complains in writing the letter or email will be passed on immediately to the Practice Manager.

• 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.

• We will acknowledge the patient’s complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this Code of Practice as soon as possible, normally within 2 working days.

• We will seek to investigate the complaint within 10 working days of receipt 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 them on the telephone. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within 10 working days we will notify the patient, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.

• We will confirm the decision about the complaint in writing immediately after completing our investigation.

• Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received in Complaints File.

If patients are not satisfied with the result of our procedure then a complaint may be made to: Dental Complaints Service We hope that, if you have a problem, you will make use of our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will provide the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However this does not affect your right to complain to the Dental Complaints Service, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. If you wish further advice you should contact:

Dental Complaints Service

The Lansdowne Building

2 Lansdowne Road

Croyden

CR9 2ER

Tel. 08456 120 540

E-mail: [email protected]

You may also like to contact The General Dental Council for more advice

The General Dental Council

37 Wimpole Street

London

W1M 8DQ

Tel. 020 7887 3800

E-mail: [email protected]