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01282 692407

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08:15 - 19:30

Call Us Today

01282 692407

Mon - Fri

08:15 - 19:30

Practice Complaints Procedure for Patients

Oakland Family Dental Practice

In this practice, we take complaints very seriously and strive to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. If you have a complaint, we will treat you courteously and promptly, aiming to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. We value your feedback and respond to your concerns in a caring and sensitive manner.

Complaints will be shared only with the staff involved, and only those who need to know will be provided with the full details. The themes of any complaints will be discussed in team meetings, allowing all members to learn from them and improve the service we provide.

The Complaints Manager in the practice is Philip Eccles
Making a complaint

Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily, often at the time they arise with the person concerned and this may be the approach you try first.

Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event this should be:

  • Within 12 months of the incident,
  • Or within 12 months of you discovering a problem, giving as much detail as possible.

If you are a registered patient of the practice you can complain about your own care. You are unable to complain about somebody else’s treatment without their written authority. See the separate section on this page.

Send your written complaint to:

Philip Eccles
Oakland Family Dental Practice,
72 Leeds Road,
Nelson,
BB9 9TD

What we do next

We look to settle complaints as soon as possible.

We will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days, and aim to have looked into the matter within 10 working days. You may then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet the person (s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take longer than this we will let you know, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.

When looking into a complaint we attempt to see what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this, and make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you would like to do so.

When the investigations are complete you complaint will be determined and the final response sent to you

Where your complaint involves more than one organisation (e.g. social services) we will liaise with that organisation so that you receive one coordinated reply. We may need your consent to do this. Where your complaint has been sent initially to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.

The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint and also your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response.

Complaining on behalf of somebody else

We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it.

Please include the patient’s signed consent with your letter to enable the complaint to proceed.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness or accident it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances which prevent this in your covering letter.

Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply.

We may still need to correspond direct with the patient, or may be able to deal direct with the third party, and this depends on the wording of the authority provided.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome

You have a right to approach the Health Service Ombudsman. The contact details are:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Millbank
Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Telephone: 0345 0154033
Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

You may also contact NHS England. The contact details are:


NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT



Telephone: 0300 311 22 23
Email: England.contactus@nhs.net

Practice Complaints Procedure for Patients

Oakland Family Dental Practice

In this practice, we take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. If you have a complaint, we will treat you courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. We learn from your feedback and respond to your concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

Complaints will only be shared with the staff involved, and only those who need to know will have the full details. The theme of any complaints will be discussed in team meetings so that all members can learn from them and improve the service that we provide.

The Complaints Manager in the practice is Philip Eccles
Verbal Complaints in person or by telephone

If you complain on the telephone or at Reception, we will listen to your complaint and acknowledge it with empathy. Minor complaints will be dealt with immediately. For more complex issues the complaint will be referred to Philip Eccles immediately if possible. If the complaints manager is not available, you will be told when he is available and offered a choice of how he may contact you, to discuss the issue.

Complaints in writing or via email

If you complain in writing or by email, your complaints will be passed on, immediately to Philip Eccles.

He will acknowledge your complaint in writing or by email (by the same method that you contacted us) and enclose/attach a copy of your complaint’s procedure as soon as possible (normally within 2 working days). He will aim to have investigated the complaint within 10 working days. We will offer to discuss the complaint at a time agreed with you, giving you a choice of how you would like to be kept informed, for example, face to face, by telephone, email or letter.

We will inform you how the complaint will be handled and the likely timescale that the investigation will be completed. If you do not wish to discuss the complaint, we will still advise you of the likely timescales for completing the process.

In all cases, we will seek to investigate the complaint speedily and efficiently and we will keep you regularly informed, as far as is reasonably practicable, as to the progress of the investigation.

Investigations will normally be completed in 2 weeks. When the investigation is complete, we will provide you with a written report. This will include an explanation of how the complaint was considered, the conclusions reached in respect of each part of the complaint, details of any necessary remedial action and whether the practice is satisfied with any action we have taken or will be taking as a result of the complaint.

We will keep full, confidential records of any complaint received as well as any actions taken to improve services as a result of your complaint.