Complaints Procedure

We Want To Hear From You

We want our service to meet your expectations. If you have a concern or complaint about any aspect of your care or experience at Kings Mills Dental Practice, we want to know.

Complaints and feedback help us understand what has gone wrong, put things right where possible and identify how we can improve our service.

We will deal with complaints courteously, fairly and as promptly as possible.

Making a complaint will not affect the care you receive from the practice.

How to Make a Complaint

You can make a complaint or raise a concern:

By telephone:
01481 255311

By email:
management@kingsmills.gg

By letter:
For the attention of Dr Keith Otty or Dr Louise Toney
Complaints Managers
Kings Mills Dental Practice
Rue A L'eau
Castel
Guernsey
GY5 7AN

In person:
You can speak to a member of the practice team and ask to speak with one of the Complaints Managers. You may wish to make an appointment so that sufficient time can be provided to discuss your concerns privately.

Our Complaints Managers

Our Complaints Managers are:

Dr Keith Otty
Dr Louise Toney

They are responsible for overseeing complaints received by the practice and ensuring that complaints are investigated appropriately.

If a Complaints Manager is not available when you contact us, we will take brief details and arrange for them to contact you.

If your concern requires a more immediate response, we will arrange for an appropriate senior member of the dental team to assist.

If your complaint concerns your dental treatment or a fee charged, we will normally ask the dentist involved to respond, unless you would prefer that this does not happen.

What Happens When You Complain?

We will acknowledge your complaint in writing as soon as possible and normally within 3 working days.

We will explain:

  • How your complaint will be investigated.
  • Who will be involved where appropriate.
  • The likely timescale.
  • How you would prefer us to keep you informed.

We may ask you for further information or offer you an opportunity to discuss your concerns with us.

Investigating Your Complaint

We will investigate your complaint fairly and objectively.

We will consider the information available to us, which may include:

  • Your concerns and the outcome you are seeking.
  • Relevant clinical records.
  • Information from members of the dental team.
  • Relevant practice procedures and guidance.

We aim to complete our investigation and provide a written response within 10 working days.

If your complaint is complex and requires further investigation, it may take up to 4 weeks.

If we need longer than this, we will explain why and keep you updated on our progress.

Our Response

When our investigation is complete, we will provide a clear response explaining:

  • What we understand your complaint to be about.
  • What we found during our investigation.
  • Our conclusions.
  • Any action we have taken.
  • Any further action we intend to take.
  • Why no further action is considered necessary, where applicable.

Where something has gone wrong, we will provide an appropriate apology and explain what we have learned from the complaint.

If You Need Additional Support

We want everyone to be able to raise a concern or complaint.

If you need additional support because of a disability, communication difficulty, language barrier or other individual need, please let us know.

We will consider reasonable adjustments to help you make or understand a complaint.

You may also ask someone you trust to support you when raising your concerns, subject to appropriate consent and confidentiality requirements.

Keeping Your Information Confidential

Information relating to your complaint will be handled confidentially and in accordance with our confidentiality and information governance requirements.

We will only share information where it is necessary to investigate and respond to your complaint or where we are legally or professionally required to do so.

Learning from Complaints

We take complaints seriously and use them to improve our service.

We review complaints to identify whether changes are needed to our procedures, communication, training, systems or services. We will monitor complaints and feedback to identify recurring issues and areas where improvements can be made.

If You Remain Dissatisfied

We hope that we will be able to resolve your concerns directly with you. However, if you remain dissatisfied following our response, you may seek further advice or raise your concerns with an appropriate external organisation.

Dental Complaints Service (DCS)

If your complaint relates to private dental treatment, you may also contact the Dental Complaints Service (DCS), which provides a free and impartial service to help patients and dental professionals resolve complaints about private dental care.

Dental Complaints Service
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1G 8DQ

Telephone: 020 8253 0800

Further information and details of how to make a complaint are available from the Dental Complaints Service through the General Dental Council website.

 

You can download a copy of our complaints procedure here (.pdf)