Complaints policy

At Bamford Orthodontic Practice we welcome feedback, positive or negative about your experience as it helps us to improve our services for patients. Patient satisfaction is of utmost importance to us and we aim for your experience to be a positive one. If this isn’t the case, we would like the opportunity to have it brought to our attention so that we can address and resolve any issues for you.

Please be assured that raising a concern or complaint will not affect your future care or treatment in any way.

If you have a complaint, we ask that it is brought to the attention of the Complaints Manager, who can promptly address your needs and where appropriate, provide you with details of who you may contact if you are not satisfied with the response.

How to complain

We hope that most of the problems can be resolved easily and quickly, often 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, please let us know within two weeks. If that is not possible, please let us have details of your complaint:

• Within six months of the incident that caused the problem, or
• Within six months of discovering you have a problem, provided this is within twelve months of the incident.

Your complaints should be addressed to the Complaints Manager and sent to: Bamford Orthodontic Practice

What happens next?

We aim to acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation. In investigating 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,
• Ensure you receive an apology where this is appropriate,
• Ensure the problem does not occur again and inform you of the steps we have taken.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

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

NHS patients

We would always encourage you to address any concerns to the practice in the first instance as we are best placed to answer any queries and satisfactorily resolve the situation in a prompt and easy manner. If you feel unable to do this or have not been satisfied with the response from the practice, NHS patients can contact the NHS Local Area Team (Durham, Darlington and Tees) who will work with you to resolve any concerns:

The Complaints Manager (Dental Services)

The Old Exchange
Barnard Street
Darlington
Durham
DL3 7DR
Tel: 0113 8251600

Private patients

If you have had private dental treatment and are dissatisfied with the complaint outcome received from Bamford Orthodontic Practice after following our complaints procedure, a complaint can be made to one of the following groups:

Ombudsman (Health Service Commissioner)

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Millbank Tower
Millbank
SW1P 4QP
t: 0345 015 4033

Dental Complaints Service

Stephenson House
2 Cherry Orchard Road
Croydon
CR0 6BA
t: 08456 120 540

If you have any queries regarding this process please do not hesitate to speak to one of the practice team who will be happy to help and advise you.

The General Dental Council (GDC)

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the regulatory body of the dental profession in the United Kingdon. Their address is 37 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 8DQ and their telephone number is 020 7887 3800. Our dentists and staff adhere to the rules governing the profession by the GDC as set out in their publication “Standards for Dental Professionals”. You can find out more about the GDC on their website www.gdc-uk.org.