Complaints Procedure

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 sorted out 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 the Complaints Manager at Acton Vale Dental Centre.  You may ask for an appointment with him/her in order to discuss your concerns. They 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 shall we do:

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to look into your complaint within 14 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 look into 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

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 have to 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.

Complaining to the NHS England

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

Should you wish to make a direct complaint to NHS England please contact:

There are two ways you can make a complaint:

  • You can complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery or dental surgery. (Please see Complaints Procedure above)

Or 

  • You can complain to the commissioner of the service: this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.

After 1 July 2023 if you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will need to contact North Central London Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England. 

You can do this by:

Telephone: 020 3198 9743

E-mail: nclicb.complaints@nhs.net

Post: North Central London Integrated Care Board

Complaints Team

Laycock PDC

Laycock Street

London 

N1 1TH

If you have a formal complaint to make, it is always advisable to try and resolve an issue directly with the provider in the first instance.

Members of the public with ongoing complaints received on/after 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that the ICB is now handling their complaint with confirmation of their case handler.

Members of the public with any ongoing complaints received before 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that their complaint is being retained by NHS England with confirmation of their case handler.

If you have any queries, please contact england.contactus@nhs.net

You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is written into the NHS Constitution on GOV.UK.

Find out more about how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service.

For further advice, you should contact:

PARLIMAMENTARY & HEALTH SERVICE OMBUDSMAN
Millbank Tower
Millbank,
London
SW1P 4QP
www.ombudsman.org.uk0345 015 4033

For help in making a complaint:
Independent Complaints Advocacy Service
Unit 2.1
Clarendon Business Park
Clumber Avenue
Nottingham
NG5 1AH
Telephone: 0845 120 3735

Patients who have received Private Treatment should contact:
General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London W1G 8DQ
www.gdc-uk.org
+44 (0) 845 222 4141 (UK local rate)
or +44 (0) 20 7887 3800

CQC contact details: Telephone: 03000 616161
E-mail: HSCA_notifications@cqc.org.uk

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