Complaints

It is our aim to always have satisfied clients, to meet your expectations of care and service and to resolve any complaints as efficiently, effectively and politely as possible. We take complaints very seriously, we investigate them in a full and fair way, and take great care to protect your confidentiality. We learn from complaints to improve our care and service. We will never discriminate against clients who have made a complaint.

If you are not entirely satisfied with any aspect of our care or service please let us know as soon as possible to allow us to address your concerns promptly. 

Elaine Field is the Complaints Manager and will be your personal contact to assist you with any complaints.

If your verbal complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction within 24 hours or if you complain in writing, the Complaints Manager will acknowledge it within 3 working days and will aim to provide a full response as soon as practical.

If the Complaints Manager is unavailable, we will take brief details about the complaint and will arrange for a meeting when the person is next available.  We will keep comprehensive and confidential records of your complaint, which will be stored securely and only be accessible only by those who need to know about your complaint.

If the complaint investigation takes longer than anticipated the Complaints Manager will keep you informed of the reason for the delay, the progress of the investigation and the proposed date it will be completed.

When the investigation has been completed, you will be informed of its outcome and invited to a meeting to discuss the results and any practical solutions that we can offer to you. These solutions could include replacing treatment, refunding fees paid, referring you for specialist treatments or other solutions that meet your needs and resolve the complaint.

If the complaint is related to treatment or care provided by a clinician (dentist or hygienist), this is usually handled by the individual clinician and their indemnity provider. The practice will still help communicating between you and the clinician. The complaint resolution timeline could extend in these cases because of the third-party involvement, but we will keep you updated throughout.

We regularly analyse client complaints to learn from them and to improve our services. That’s why we always welcome your feedback, comments, suggestions and complaints. If you are dissatisfied with our response to a complaint you can take it further, please see the contacts below.

Further Contacts

For private dental treatment you can contact the GDC private dental complaints service within 12 months of the treatment or within 12 months of becoming aware of the issue by calling 020 8253 0800 or visiting  www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk.

You can also contact the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who regulates dental care services in England by calling 03000 616161.

The General Dental Council is responsible for regulating all dental professionals. You can complain using their online form at www.gdc-uk.org. Contact them on information@gdc-org.uk or by calling 020 7167 6000. 

Finance-related Complaints

● If we are able to resolve a complaint within 3 business days, we will issue the complainant with a summary resolution letter detailing our resolution and advising the customer of their right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

● For every complaint received that cannot be resolved within 3 business days, we will issue the complainant with an acknowledgement letter within 5 business days, along with a copy of our complaint’s procedure.

● We will advise the complainant on each communication when they can expect to hear from us next.

● If after 4 weeks we are still not in a position to resolve a complaint, we will issue the complainant with a ‘4 week holding letter’ advising why we are not yet in a position to resolve the complaint.

● We will endeavour to resolve complaints in a timely manner and within 8 weeks as a maximum.

● If we cannot resolve a complaint within 8 weeks then we will remind complainants of their right to refer their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

● All complaints received and resolved will be recorded so we are able to identify trends and make the necessary business changes to improve the services to our customers and prevent repeat occurrences.

●   If a 3rd party is solely responsible for the complaint or the reasons for the complaint, we will refer the complaint to them within 5 business days and write to the customer to make them aware of this.

●  If a 3rd party is jointly responsible for the complaint with us, we will refer the complaint to them within 5 business days, write to the customer to make them aware of this, and then investigate and handle the complaint points relating to us as per our normal process.

If we cannot resolve your finance-related complaint

If we are unable to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks, we will send you a letter explaining our reasons for the delay and an indication of when we expect to provide our final response.

Our aim is to resolve all complaints internally. However, if after receiving our final response letter, or if eight weeks have passed, you may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

If you would like the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint you must contact them within six months of the date of our final response letter.

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London, E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further information can be obtained from the Financial Ombudsman Service’s website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk