Practice Complaints Procedure

If you have a concern or complaint about the service you have received from the dentist or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints.

How to Address Your Concerns or Complaints

We endeavour to resolve the matter as quickly and smoothly as possible, often at the time a concern or complaint arises.

If your issue cannot be resolved in this way, and you wish to make a complaint, we would ask for you to inform us as soon as possible. Ideally within a matter of days, as this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.

Complaints should be addressed to

Dr Saira Akhtar Gill/ Dr Mohsin Uddin

Alternatively, we can arrange for an appointment at the practice with Dr Saira Akhtar Gill or Dr Mohsin Uddin when they are on site to discuss your concerns.

What Will We Do?

We will acknowledge your complaint, normally within three working days. We will seek to investigate the complaint within ten working days of receipt. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint, and offer a meeting with those involved.

In investigating your complaint, we shall aim to:

• Find out what happened, and what went wrong
• Make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those concerned
• Make sure you receive an apology where appropriate
• Identify what we can do to ensure we do not have a reoccurrence

If you feel you cannot raise your concern with the practice direct, or are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation, you should contact:

NHS England on England.contactus@nhs.net

Telephone: 0300 3112233

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) 03000616161– which does not settle individual disputes, but your feedback about a practice helps it to decide when, where and what to inspect

The Dental Complaints Service (08456 120 540) for complaints about private treatment

Failing these options, you may wish to contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on 0345 015 4033

Complaining On Behalf Of Someone Else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have permission to do so. Please ask the receptionist for a ‘Disclaimer to Give Information to a Third Party’ which will need to be signed by the patient concerned, unless there is incapacity of providing this due to physical or mental illness, or when the patient concerned is a minor (usually under 18), in which case the parent/ guardian holds responsibility.

In this practice we take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. All feedback and concerns raised are discussed at our practice meetings to learn from these experiences to ensure that customer satisfaction is maintained. Patient details are not disclosed during these meetings.