Policies

We understand that situations arise in which patients need to cancel their appointment. We ask that as much notice as possible is given if an appointment needs to be cancelled or rescheduled. We will then be able to offer the time to another patient.

If less than 24 hours’ notice is given, or an appointment is missed for any reason, a fee will be charged.

We also ask, to assist with the efficient running of the practice, that patients arrive on time for their appointments. Late arrivals have a knock-on effect to other patients. Patients who are late could find their appointment length shortened (which means that any treatment cannot be carried out to the highest standards), or they might not be able to be seen and will be asked to re-schedule. If a patient is more than 10 minutes late for an appointment, it will be deemed as a missed appointment. If more than two dental appointments are missed or cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, your registration at the practice will be compromised. We cannot guarantee being able to complete your treatment or offer you treatment in the future.

It is our aim to telephone or write to patients after a missed appointment to understand the reason for non-attendance and to inform them about any fee that has been incurred.

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 guidelines.

How to Complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted in this way and you wish to make a formal complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened most easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

- Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
- Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem

Complaints about the treatment you received should be made to the dentist who normally sees you. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with another dentist in order to discuss your concerns. He/she will explain the complaints procedure to you and will ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will help if you are as clear as possible about your complaint.

What we shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to give you an explanation or offer a meeting with those involved.

In investigating your complaint, we shall aim to:

Find out what happened and what went wrong
Enable you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
Ensure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

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 the permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable of providing this because of physical or mental illness or are a child under 16 years.

Complaining 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 an independent body, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.

If you wish for further advice, you should contact:

For patients who have received private treatment:
Dental Complaints Service
37 Wimpole Street
London W1G 8DQ
T: 0208 253 0800
W: https://dcs.gdc-uk.org/

For patients with a Denplan payment plan:
Denplan Clinical Mediation Service
Simplyhealth House
Victoria Road
Winchester SO23 7RG
T: 0800 169 7220
E: clinicalmediationservice@denplan.co.uk

For those patients who have a complaint regarding treatment they have received under NHS England:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch B97 9PT
T: 0300 311 2233
E: england.contactus@nhs.net

If you are making a complaint, please state: ‘for attention of the Complaints Team’ in the subject line

You may also like to contact the General Dental Council for more advice:
General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London W1G 8DQ
T: 0207 167 6000

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