Patient Complaints Procedure

How to complain

We hope that most issues can be resolved easily and quickly at the time they arise, and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be resolved in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of days or at most a few weeks. This will enable us to more easily establish what happened. If it is not possible to do this, then please let us have details of your complaint in writing:

• Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem.
• Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that this is within 12 months of the incident.

Please address all complaints to John, our owner and Clinical Dental Technician, marked Confidential Addressee Only. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with him to discuss your concerns. The complaint procedure will then be explained to you, ensuring that your complaint is dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you could be as specific as possible.

Write to us at Unit 10, Holes Bay Park, Sterte Avenue West, Poole, Dorset, BH15 2AA, call 01202 674486 or email info@wessexdentallab.co.uk.

What we will do

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 2 working days and aim to investigate the matter within 10 working days from date of receipt. Whilst investigating your complaint we will aim to:

• Find out exactly what happened.
• Make it possible to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this.
• Make sure that you receive an apology where appropriate.
• Identify whether there is any action we can take to ensure that this particular type of problem does not reoccur.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note, we keep strictly to rules of confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we need to know that you have permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable through physical or mental illness of providing this.

If you are not satisfied with our response

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our complaints procedure first. We believe that gives the best chance of putting right anything that has gone wrong, and it is how we improve. It does not affect your right to take the matter further, and you can do that at any point.

For private dental work, the Dental Complaints Service, run by the General Dental Council, provides a free service for patients and dental professionals. For work carried out on the NHS, complaints are handled by NHS England or by your local Integrated Care Board, and nhs.uk explains how to complain. If your concern is about the professional conduct of a registered dental professional, the General Dental Council is the regulator.

Recall procedure

As a manufacturer of custom-made dental appliances we are registered with the MHRA under the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (as amended). Should any technical or medical reason connected with the characteristics or performance of a custom-made device be identified which may pose a potential serious risk to health, the devices affected will be individually identified using our unique appliance numbering system, recalled by letter and rectified as required.