Complaints Procedure.
1. Introduction
Our Patients’ views are important to us and help to ensure our services are consistently meeting people’s needs. If you are unhappy with any of our services, it is important that you let us know.
If a complaint alerts us to possible abuse or neglect, we will tell NHS North East and North Cumbria's Adult Safeguarding Team. The Safeguarding Team will decide how to investigate and monitor outcomes.
2. Making a Suggestion
Often people feel more comfortable suggesting improvements than complaining formally. Suggestions can be made by anyone receiving services, or their friends/family. To make a suggestion you can:
• Speak to the Manager or their Deputy
• Utilise available comments or suggestion boxes if you would rather make your suggestion that way
• If the suggestion is something that Plumfield Dental Practice needs to consider you can send it to: Registered Manager
Plumfield Dental Practice Plumfield Dental Practice 82 Warwick Road Carlisle
Cumbria CA1 1DZ
01228 521701
3. Making a Complaint
We aim to handle complaints quickly, effectively and in a fair and honest way. We take all complaints seriously and use valuable information from investigating to help us improve the service we provide. We treat all complaints in confidence. Plumfield Dental Practice assures Patients and their families that it will not withdraw or reduce services because someone makes a complaint in good faith.
4. Who can Complain?
Anyone affected by the way Plumfield Dental Practice provides services can make a complaint. A representative can make a complaint for the affected person if they:
• Have died
• Cannot make a complaint themselves, or
• Have given consent for the representative to act on their behalf
If you are not happy about making a complaint yourself and you do not know someone who can talk or write to us on your behalf, we will be happy to find someone from an independent organisation to act as an advocate for you.
5. How you can Make a Complaint
You can complain:
• In person
• By telephone
• Through a member of our staff
• Through an advocate or representative
Where someone complains verbally, we will make a written record and provide a copy of it within 3 working days:
• By letter
• By email
6. Anonymous Complaints
We deal with anonymous complaints under the same procedure. However, it should be noted that, if you provide contact details, we can update you on the outcome of our investigation.
7. Responsibility
The Registered Manager has overall responsibility for dealing with all complaints made about their service. We will provide, as far as is reasonably practical:
• Any help you need to understand the complaints procedure
• Advice on where you may get that help
• Information about making a complaint in a way you can understand
8. How we Handle Complaints
The Registered Manager may ask one of the management team to investigate the complaint. That person will have enough seniority and experience to deal with the issues raised by the complainant.
We will acknowledge a complaint within 3 working days and give you the name and contact details of the person investigating it.
We will keep you informed about the progress of the investigation. We aim to have all complaints finished within 28 working
days unless we agree a different time scale with you.
When we have finished investigating, we will arrange to meet with you to discuss the outcome, and write to you with:
• Details of the findings
• Any action we have taken
• Our proposals to resolve your complaint
9. Time Limits
You should complain as soon as you can after the date on which the event occurred or came to your notice. If you complain more than twelve months later, we may not be able to investigate properly. However, we will consider whether you had
a good reason for not making the complaint sooner and whether, despite the delay, it is still possible to investigate the complaint effectively and fairly.
10. Further Steps
At any stage during the process, if you are not happy with the way the service is dealing with your complaint you can contact t Registered Manager at:
Plumfield Dental Practice Plumfield Dental Practice 82 Warwick Road Carlisle
Cumbria CA1 1DZ
01228 521701
Once we have dealt with your complaint, if you are not happy with the outcome you can refer your complaint to the Dental Complaints Services for private dental care or the General Dental Council for private and/or NHS dental care.
The provider has had an opportunity to respond and resolve matters.
The services of Plumfield Dental Practice are registered with, and regulated by, the Care Quality Commission. The CQC cannot get involved in individual complaints about providers but is happy to receive information about services at any time. You can contact the CQC at:
Care Quality Commission National Correspondence Care Quality Commission (CQC)
National Correspondence Citygate, Gallowgate Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4PA Tel: 03000 616161
Fax: 03000 616171
Website: www.cqc.org.uk