Dental practice handled complaint poorly

What happened

Mr P telephoned the Dental Practice and spoke to a receptionist. He explained he was not in pain but was worried about a leaking filling. He was unhappy about the offer of an appointment a month later. He asked to speak to his dentist for reassurance and was concerned when this was refused. He said staff told him he would have to pay £17.50 if he wanted to speak to his dentist on the phone.

Mr P discussed his concerns with the Practice manager. She later wrote to him and said patient trust was a vital part of any treatment and without it, treatment could be compromised or not work. For this reason, she felt it was in Mr P's best interest to find another dentist. Mr P was upset but did so promptly.

Mr P complained to the Dental Practice's head office. Staff explained that a dentist can refuse to treat a patient if there has been a breakdown in the relationship. The relationship with Practice reception staff and the Practice manager had broken down, and they are an essential part of the Practice team. Head office staff told Mr P that the dentist would have seen him if it had been possible, but all his time was booked. They spoke to the dentist, who said he would have given Mr P the same information the receptionist had. Head office staff said Mr P would not have been charged to speak to a dentist, but would have been charged for a telephone consultation or to see the dentist.

Mr P remained unhappy and rang the head office a number of times but received no response. He also wrote two letters, which head office staff did not acknowledge or respond to. We asked the head office about this, and staff agreed that they should have called Mr P and that they neither acknowledged nor fully responded to his letters. They explained they would stop this happening again by setting formal reminders in its system. The head office asked us to pass on its apologies to Mr P and offered to pay him £50 in recognition of the frustration he experienced.

What we found

The Dental Practice's offer of the next available appointment was reasonable. The decision to ask Mr P to find a new dental practice was in line with NHS regulations.

The head office's explanations about the issues raised were reasonable. However, there were failings in its handling of Mr P's complaint so we partly upheld his complaint to us.

We considered that the head office's acknowledgement and apology, along with its actions, were reasonable but we felt that the head office should write to Mr P to apologise and give him more information about this.

Putting it right

The Dental Practice's head office wrote to Mr P and apologised that it did not acknowledge or respond to his letters and phone calls. It paid Mr P £50 for the frustration he suffered.