Complaints policy

At Wigston Dental Care, we welcome your comments, suggestions and complaints so we can continually improve our services to you and your family.

Your happiness, health and well-being during your patient journey, from first contact to the end of your treatment, is very important to us.

We hope this never happens, but if you are dissatisfied with your dental care, we would like you to let us know.

We take complaints seriously to ensure all our patients are pleased with their experience while in our care. Please let us know if you have any concerns or complaints about any aspect of your care. On the very rare occasion that a complaint is made, it is dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible.

How do I complain?

A complaint may be verbal or written and can be made to any member of the practice team.

How will my complaint be handled?

• The person responsible for dealing with any complaint is Dr Sheetal Hindocha, the Practice Principal (practicemanager@wigstondentalcare.co.uk)
• If we receive a complaint by telephone or in person, we will listen, log the complaint and try to resolve your concerns at the time.
• If appropriate, the Practice Principal will discuss your complaint and try to resolve the situation for you. If Dr Hindocha is not available, we will arrange a convenient time for her to contact you. A member of staff will take brief details of the complaint, pass them on, and provide you with a copy of these details.
• If we receive a complaint in writing or by email, it will be passed immediately to the Practice Principal.
• If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges, it will be referred to the dentist concerned, unless you do not want this to happen.
• We will acknowledge a complaint in writing with an enclosed copy of this Code of Practice as soon as possible, normally within three working days.
• We will offer to discuss the complaint with you, and confirm how you would like to be kept informed of developments, for example, by telephone, post, email or in face-to-face meetings. We will let you know how the complaint will be handled and the likely length of time the investigation will take to complete. If you do not wish to discuss the complaint further, we will still inform you of the expected timescale for completing the investigation.
• We will seek to investigate your complaint speedily and efficiently. As far as is reasonably practicable, we will keep you informed as to the progress of the investigation. Investigations will normally be completed within 25 days.
• When we have completed our investigation, we will provide you with a full written report, which will include an explanation of how we considered your complaint, the conclusions reached in respect of each specific aspect of the complaint, details of any necessary remedial action taken and whether further action will be taken.
• Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaints received, as well as any actions taken to improve services as a consequence of a complaint.

If your care was provided under an NHS contract, and you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you may contact:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net with ‘For the attention of the complaints manager’ in the subject line.

Or
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 015 4033
www.ombudsman.org.uk
If your care was provided privately, and you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you may contact:

Dental Complaints Service
Stephenson House
2 Cherry Orchard Road
Croydon
CR0 6BA
Tel: 08456 120 540
www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk
Or

General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1M 8DQ
Tel: 0845 222 4141
www.gdc-uk.org