Our Aim
St Michaels Orthodontics Ltd is committed to providing a quality service for its patients and working in an open and accountable way that builds the trust and respect. Therefore we aim to ensure that:
- making a complaint is as easy as possible
- we deal with it promptly, politely and confidentially
An informal approach is appropriate when it can be achieved. But if concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, then the formal complaints procedure should be followed.
If your problem cannot be sorted out 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 – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem.
Formal Complaints Procedure
Stage 1
A complainant’s responsibility is to :
- bring their complaint, in writing, addressed to Mrs Carol Walter, Practice Manager or Miss Catherine McCanny, Practice principal.
- explain the problem as clearly and as fully as possible, including any action taken to date
- allow St Michaels Orthodontics a reasonable time to deal with the matter
What we Shall do
We shall acknowledge your complaint within three 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, or a meeting with those involved. In investigating your complaint, we shall aim to :
- arrange an appointment with Carol Walter, Practice Manager in order to explain the complaints procedure to you and will ensure that you concerns are dealt with promptly
- make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
- deal reasonably and sensitively with the complaint
- make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
- identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again
Stage 2
Complaining to a Third Party
We hope that, if you do have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. If you are not happy with the response you receive from us you are entitled to raise this verbally or in writing with the National Complaints Centre on 0300 311 22 33 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm) National Complaints Centre NHS England PO Box 16738h Redditch B97 9PT
E-mail: http://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint
You can get support Citizens Advice, Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) or visit www.dh.gov.uk Private dental services – The Dental Complaints Service on 08456 120 540 or visit www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk