Complaint Procedure

 

Total Dentalcare are part of Bupa Dental Care.  At Total Dentalcare and Bupa Dental Care our patients are truly at the heart of everything we do. We try to ensure that all patients are pleased with their experience of our service and we take any concerns a patient may have very seriously.

 

If you have a concern regarding any aspect of your care, please let the Practice Manager know. We’ll do all that we can to resolve it to your satisfaction, both promptly and professionally. The Practice Manager is the person responsible for investigating and responding to all patient complaints.

 

    • If your concern relates to clinical dental treatment the Practice Manager will always seek the treating dentists’ comments in order to provide you a full detailed response.
    • If complaining on behalf of someone else, please note, we will require written consent in order to discuss their personal information.
    • We’ll acknowledge your complaint in writing within two days and will also include a copy of this complaint procedure. We will investigate your concerns and aim to provide a full response within 20 working days. If, for any reason, we are unable to complete our investigations within 20 working days, we will notify you, giving reasons for the delay and the likely period within which the investigation will be completed.
    • If you’re not satisfied with the outcome received, please let the Practice Manager know. In some circumstances, this may be escalated to our Patient Liaison Team to review and provide a final response.
    • If you remain unhappy once we have provided our final response you may be able to refer your complaint, free of charge, for an independent review. Please note that time limits may apply so you’ll need to get in touch as soon as possible.

 

If you’re an NHS patient you can refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman by completing an online form https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/ or phone 0345 015 4033. Or, get in touch with the NHS England local area team by email england.contactus@nhs.net or phone 0300 311 2233.

If you are a private patient, you can contact the Dental Complaints Service (DCS) by telephone 020 8253 0800, or visit their website – https://dcs.gdc-uk.org/

Both NHS and Private patients can contact the Care Quality Commission. Bupa will try to avoid the matter escalating this far, however, we understand that sometimes it is impossible to resolve matters, and this is then the only way to proceed. Care Quality Commission (CQC) UK: https://www.cqc.org.uk/

 

 

Updated May 2021