Practice complaints procedure & information for patients
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, which adheres to national criteria.
How to complain
We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly, at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be resolved in this way and you wish to make a 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. This will enable us to establish what happened most easily and aid us with our investigation.
If it is not possible to do that, please inform us of your complaint:
- within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
- within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.
Practice Complaints Manager: Mrs Debra Strutt
Complaints about any dental treatment you received should be made to the dentist who normally sees you. Alternatively, you may ask to speak for Debra Strutt in order to discuss your concerns or you may write a formal letter of complaint. Debra Strutt 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 and any outcomes that you aim to achieve.
To make a complaint, please either call us on 01279 406100 and ask for the complaints manager, or send us an email to: info@keatshousedental.co.uk FAO: The Complaints Manager.
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 and comply with the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR). If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we need to ensure that you have the permission to do so. A disclosure consent form signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless the patient is incapable of providing this because of physical or mental illness or they are a child under 16 years. The practice will issue this to you, if it is needed to proceed with the complaints process.
If we cannot resolve your complaint, or you are not satisfied with the outcome
We hope that, if you have a problem, you will make use of our in-house practice complaints procedure. We believe this will provide the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and will give an opportunity to improve our practice. However, this does not affect your right to complain to an external body, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.
For patients who have a complaint regarding treatment received under the NHS:
Patient Experience Team
Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board
email: hweicbwe.patientfeedback@nhs.net
telephone: 01992 566122
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:
All information is available online
Web: ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint
For patients who have a complaint regarding private treatment they have received:
Dental Complaints Service
Email: info@dentalcomplaints.org.uk
Tel. 020 8253 0800