Complaints Policy

At St George’s Dental Practice, we strive to deliver the highest standard of dental care and customer service. In the rare event that our service falls below your expectations, we promise to investigate your concerns fully and handle your complaint promptly, fairly and sensitively. You will always be treated with respect, and raising a complaint will never prejudice your future care with us.

Our aim is to manage complaints in a way that reflects how we would want our own concerns to be handled: professionally, openly and with genuine care.

1. The person responsible for managing complaints within our practice is our Complaints Manager.

2. If you wish to make a complaint, this should be submitted in writing and sent to hello@stgeorgesdental.co.uk, addressed to the Complaints Manager.

3. If your complaint relates to clinical care or charges, the Complaints Manager may need to consult with the dentist involved unless you specifically request otherwise. If you do not want us to speak to the dentist, please outline your reasons in your complaint.

4. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing and provide a copy of this complaints procedure within 7 working days.

5. We will investigate your complaint within 14 working days of receiving it and provide an explanation of what happened and why.

   • If you prefer not to meet in person, we will attempt to contact you by telephone.

   • If we cannot complete our investigation within 14 working days, we will inform you of the delay, explain the reason, and provide an updated timeframe.

6. Once our investigation is complete, we will confirm our decision and response to you in writing.

7. We keep full and accurate records of every complaint received.

8. If we have an email address on file, we will use this to communicate with you unless you request postal correspondence.

9. If you remain dissatisfied after we have completed our procedure, you may pursue your complaint further with:

   • Dental Complaints Service
     Stephenson House, 2 Cherry Orchard Road, Croydon, CR0 6BA
     Telephone: 08456 120 540
     (For complaints related to private treatment)

   • General Dental Council
     37 Wimpole Street, London, W1M 8DQ
     Telephone: 0845 222 4141
     (For complaints relating to professional misconduct)