Complaints Policy

At our practice we take complaints very seriously and we try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experiences of our services. When patients complain, they are dealt courteously so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible.

We have a team of competently trained staff and also Amy Eadie is our Practice Manager.  If you decide you wish to make a complaint, ask to speak to one of these staff members in the first instance. The complaint will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence and the team will LISTEN to you, where possible we will try to resolve your issue there and then.

If you decide to complain in writing, the letter/email will be passed to the Practice Manager, Amy Eadie.

If the complaint has any aspect of clinical areas or associated charges it will normally need to be referred to the dentist for further investigation, it may not always be straightforward or clear to resolve the matter without input from the dentist.

We will acknowledge the patients’ complaint in writing and where requested enclose a copy of our complaints policy, this is normally within two working days. We will seek to investigate the complaint as soon as possible this is usually within 10 working days. We will try to give the patient an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within 10 working days we will notify the patient, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period which the investigation will be completed.

If you are not satisfied with the response then a complaint can be made to the following organisations;

For NHS Dental Complaints:

Healthwatch Wakefield, Unity House, Westgate
Wakefield
WF1 1EP Tel:  01924 787379,

If you are not happy with the way in which your formal complaint was handled (either by the dental practice or Healthwatch Wakefield, if you chose to go to them) you can go to the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman on 0345 015 403. The Ombudsman makes the final decision on complaints.

For Private Dental Complaints:

The Dental Complaints Service Tel: 0845 130 540