Perfect Teeth Dental Practice

Patient Complaints Policy

Perfect Teeth Dental Practice operates an open, clear an effective practice complaints procedure.

Our complaints procedure meets the requirement set out by The General Dental Council and the NHS in delivering good practice in complaints handling.

If you would like to raise a complaint or concern about the service you have received at Perfect Teeth then please contact us either in person, telephone or writing.

We take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with the outcome of their complaint.

When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. The practice never discriminates against a patient who has made a compliant. Our aim is to respond to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled and we learn from every complaint to improve our services.

At Perfect Teeth, we handle complaints in the following manner;

• The persons responsible for dealing with complaints about any of our services are the Practice Principals, Dr Zakira Mukhtar and Dr Shakira Mukhtar.
• If a patient complains over the telephone or in person, The Practice manager will listen to them and offer to refer them to the Practice Principals in order to discuss the matter with them. If the patient does not wish to meet with the Principals, then we will offer to discuss the matter over the telephone and the necessary arrangements for this will be made. The Practice Manager will take brief details of the complaint in order to pass it on.
• If the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the matter, then they will be advised to put their complaint in writing (letter or email) if they wish to do so and this will be passed on to the Practice Principals promptly.
• If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the responsible clinician, unless the patient does not want this to happen. The clinician will make the best endeavour to meet any outcomes the patient expects.
• We will acknowledge the patient’s complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this policy as soon as possible, and normally within 3 working days.
• We will seek to investigate the complaint within 20 working days of its receipt in order to give an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within this time frame then we will notify the patient as soon as possible, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed. We will confirm the decision about the complaint in writing immediately after completing our investigation.
• Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received in Complaints File.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

Please note that we adhere to rules of Patient Confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have the permission to do so. A written confirmation signed by the person concerned will be all that is needed, unless they are incapable of providing this because of physical or mental inabilities or they are under 16 years of age.

Unsatisfied with the Practices Complaint Handling

If you are dissatisfied with our services, we hope that you will first approach us and 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 for us to improve our practice. We hope all or patients will be satisfied with the outcome of our complaints handling. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the result, then you may contact the following regarding your NHS Treatment:

• Enfield NHS Primary Care Trust, Holbrook House, Cockfosters Road, Barnet, Herts EN4 0DR
• Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank London SW1P 4QP, Tel 03450154033 or www.ombudsman.org.uk

For all other treatment, you may wish to contact the following organisations for more advice:

• Dental Complaints Service
• The Care Quality Commission (visit www.cqc.org.uk or call 03000 616161)
• The General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London, W1M 8DQ, Tel. 020 7887 3800, Email: Complaints@gdc-uk.org