In 2014 the Scottish government started an initiative to regulate the standards of independent healthcare clinics and as we are a fully private clinic we have undergone rigerous inspections and checks by the healthcare improvement Scotland team. Our complaints procedure is set out below and the details of all available parties should you be unable to resolve your complaint at a local level.
Responsibilities
How to make a complaint
What we will do
- We will try to sort out the complaint on the spot.
- If we cannot do this we will write to you within 3 working days. In the letter we will
- tell you what action we will take to look into your complaint;
- offer you the chance to talk to a member of staff;
- let you know when we will respond fully(normally within 20 working days)
We will keep information about your complaint confidential. We may have to talk to other staff or show them your dental record. If you do not want us to share information from your dental record, please tell us when you make your complaint, but bear in mind this may make it more difficult to look into your complaint.We will keep a record of your details and your complaint and use it to help improve our services, and for statistical purposes.
Our response
We will investigate your complaint and write to you with a full response within 20 working days of receiving your complaint. If we are unable to keep this timescale we will let you know and tell you why.
Our response will let you know the result of the investigation.
We will:
- show that we have looked into your complaint and reply to all the points you make;
- offer an apology if the thing have gone wrong;
- explain what we will do to stop what you have complained about happening again;
- if necessary, explain why we cannot do anything more about some parts of your complaint;
- offer you the chance to talk to a member of staff if there is anything in the letter you do not understand;
- include information about the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman in case you are unhappy with our response or the way we handled your complaint and you wish to take things further.
If you don’t want to complain to anyone in the practice about your complaint you can contact The Dental Complaints Service (08456 120 540)(a department of the General Dental Council) offers a complaint resolution service for private dental patients and dentists. Alternatively you can get in touch with a member of the improvement healthcare Scotland team (details below)
When making your complaint, please give:
- your full name and address (and the patient’s name if acting on behalf of someone else);
- as much helpful information as possible about what happened, where it happened and when, and what you would like to have done about it;
- your preferred method of communication; and
- consent from the patient, if you are making the complaint on behalf of the patient.
The General Dental Council,
37 Wimpole Street London,
W1M 8DQ (the dentists’ registration body)
Website: www.gdc-uk.org
Healthcare improvement Scotland
Independent Healthcare Team
Gyle Square
1 Soth Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh EH12 9EB.
T: 0131 623 4342
E:hcis.clinicregulation@nhs.net