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Complaints procedure

At Plymouth City Centre dental practice we take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When a complaint is made, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible.

Complaints made to the practice

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received
from the dentist or any of the staff working at this practice, please let us
know. We operate a practice complaints procedure for dealing with
complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly, often at
the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot
be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we will respond
to your complaint within three working days, enabling us to establish what
happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have
details of your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the
problem.

Complaints should be addressed to Miss Sophie Burrows, Complaints
Manager, or Miss Jessica Blee, Deputy Complaints Manager. You may ask
for an appointment to discuss your concerns. We will explain the
complaints procedure to you and will ensure that your concerns are dealt
with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible
about your complaint.

What action we will take

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to
investigate your complaint within 20 working days of the date when you
raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an
explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.

When we investigate your complaint, we shall aim to:

  • Find out what happened and what went wrong
  • Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those
    concerned, if you would like this
  • Make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate
  • Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen
    again
  • Should a patient make a complaint or claim, we may need to provide
    information about the patient, and treatment they have received, to
    insurers, indemnifiers, or legal advisers

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of clinical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of physical and mental illness) of providing this. Please note that if you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else, unless we have a signed letter from the patient we will not be able to discuss any further details with you. 

Complaining to the Dental Complaints Service

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will make use of our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will provide the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However, this does not affect your right to complain to an independent body, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.

For further advice, you should contact:

Dental Complaints Service

Address: 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ

Telephone: 020 8253 0800

(Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm)

General Dental Council

Address: 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ

Email: www.gdc-uk.org

Telephone: 0845 222 4141 or 020 7887 3800

Complaints and the CQC

The CQC don't get directly involved with complaints made to the practice. They do, however, encourage giving feedback for service providers.

To send feedback to the CQC about please go to:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care

or Telephone: 03000 616161 Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm Excluding bank holidays.