Circuit 3, station 5

The 6 core principles of managing complaints from patients as per the General Dental Council:

1. All of your feedback is important to us

– The feedback from the patient is important to the dental practice / department

2. We want to make it easy for you to raise a concern or if you need to

– The aim is for patients to have an easy process to make a complaint and not make it difficult

3. We follow a complaints procedure and keep you informed

– All practices and departments need to have a publicly available complaints procedure

4. We will try to answer all your questions and any concerns you raise

– All questions will be attempted to be answered and respond to any and all concerns raised

5. We want you to have a positive experience making a complaint

– Complaints are always a challenge and as such the process should be as painless and positive as possible.

6. Your feedback helps us to improve our service

– All feedback is welcome to improve the service delivered

As per GDC standards:

5.2.1 You should not react defensively to complaints. You should listen carefully to patients who complain and involve them fully in the complaints process. You should find out what outcome patients want from their complaint.

For more detailed information, please visit the GDC website for more information: https://standards.gdc-uk.org/pages/principle5/principle5.aspx