05 Oct 2006 - "First 100 days"

NEW SERVICE RESOLVES DENTAL COMPLAINTS IN TWO-AND-A-HALF DAYS

The first 100 days of the new Dental Complaints Service, which helps resolve complaints about private dental care, have seen it resolve most complaints in less than two and a half days, it was announced today (embargoed until 00.01hrs, Thursday, 5 October).

Of the 520 complaints the Service received since it launched earlier this year, on May 24, it closed 484 complaints, with a success rate of 99.7 per cent. At the end of 100 days, just 15 of the most recent complaints were still outstanding.

The success of the Service in the crucial first few months may be due to its policy of resolving complaints as fairly, efficiently, transparently and swiftly as possible, but also a result of the positive response the service has received from dental professionals.

Resolving complaints may involve recommending an apology to the patient, a refund of fees and/or a contribution by a dental practice towards the costs of remedial treatment. It may also involve helping the patient to understand that their complaint is unjustified.

The Service received more than 2,000 enquiries to its complaints hotline (08456 120540), half of them about NHS dental services, which were redirected to the appropriate local NHS contact. Some 22 per cent of complaints were submitted by or at the suggestion of a dental professional.

Over 90 per cent of complaints were referred back to dental practices’ own complaints resolution procedures. Of these, an astonishing 82 per cent were resolved. Of the rest, 99.7 per cent were resolved by the complaints service’s officers or, in two cases, panels of volunteers – the last step in the service’s attempts to resolve a complaint. It is a measure of the success of the service that only two such regional panels met in the 100 days. Three more have met subsequently. The panels consist of trained volunteers.

“Nearly 500 dental patients, who previously would have had nowhere to turn, have seen their complaints successfully resolved by the new service, either by reference back to their dental practice, or by the Service’s officers themselves,” says Derek Prentice, who chairs the Service’s Advisory Board. The Service was set up by, but is independent of, the General Dental Council. “We are delighted it is resolving complaints so speedily.”

Of those complaints that were not resolved by the dental practice’s own in-house complaints procedure, 20 were taken out of the Dental Complaints Service’s hands by complainants themselves: 12 insisted on considering legal action, and eight referred themselves on to the GDC’s Fitness to Practise procedures. Two complaints remained unresolved, due to the patient’s failure to accept clinical advice.

Issues of “pain” or “cost” were cited in 83 per cent of complaints received, though fewer than 40 per cent of complainants appeared to want their money back. The aim of the Service is to restore the relationship between the patient and the dental professional: four out of five of complainants said they wanted to return to their dental practice.

Complaints that raise issues about patient safety and whether a practitioner should be allowed to continue practising continue to be dealt with by the GDC.

To contact the Dental Complaints Service, call 08456 120540 (local rate), visit www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk, or email info@dentalcomplaints.org.uk.

Ends

Media contact ONLY: Mike Hutchinson (mike.hutchinson@dentalcomplaints.org.uk) on 020 7624 6257 or 07760 155216.

Note to editors: The Dental Complaints Service is funded by the General Dental Council (the regulator for the dental profession in the UK) to help resolve complaints by patients about private dental care as fairly, efficiently, transparently and quickly as possible. NHS patients are covered by a different scheme.