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Complaints Procedure

In case you have cause to complain

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the dentists or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure. Our complaint system adheres to NHS and Welsh national criteria.

How to Complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be dealt with 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 most easily.

If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

  • within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
  • within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints about the treatment you received should be made to the dentist who normally sees you. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mrs Rhian Louth, in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain our complaints procedure to you and will ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will help if you are as clear as possible about your complaint.

What We Shall Do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to give you an explanation or offer a meeting with those involved.

In investigating your complaint, we shall aim to:

  • find out what happened and what went wrong
  • enable you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
  • ensure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
  • identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

If we cannot fully investigate and respond to your complaint within the time limits above, we will keep you fully informed of our progress.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

Please note that we must keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable of providing this because of physical or mental illness or are a child under 16 years.

Responding to your complaint

After we have considered your complaint and reviewed all the information we can obtain in connection with it, we will reply fully to you, with details of:

  • The nature and substance of your complaint as it was described to us by you
  • The investigations we have undertaken to fully consider the matter complained of
  • Our conclusions we have reached after a full investigation and the actions we will take, (if it is found that we have been at fault, failed in our duty of care to you or otherwise acted or failed to act in such a way as to give you cause for legitimate dissatisfaction) to ensure that such an act or omission should not occur again in the future.

What to do if you are unhappy with our response

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will make use of our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will provide the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However this does not affect your right to complain to the following bodies at any time, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. If you wish further advice you should contact:

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW)
Rhydycar Business Park
Merthyr Tydfil
CF48 1UZ
Phone: 0300 062 8163
E- mail: hiw@wales.gsi.gov.uk

You may also like to contact the General Dental Council for more advice.

General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1M 8DQ
Tel. 020 7887 3800
E-mail: Complaints@gdc-uk.org

If your dental treatment was provided under private arrangements, you can contact:

Dental Complaints Service
Stephenson House
2 Cherry Orchard Rd
Croydon
CR0 6BA
Tel. 08456 120 540
E-mail: info@dentalcomplaints.org.uk

If your treatment was provided under National Health Service arrangements, you can contact:

ABM Health Board/ Bwrdd Iechyd ABM
Primary and Community Services Delivery Unit/Â Uned Cyflenwi Gwasanaethau Sylfaenol a Chymunedol
Block A
Neath Port Talbot Hospital
Baglan Way
Port Talbot
SA12 7BX

Tel/Ffon: 01639 684506

For those patients registered with this practice with Denplan you can contact Denplan by telephone for advice:

Denplan: Tel. 0800 169 7220

If you remain unhappy after an attempt at resolution of your complaint by either the practice or one of the above organisations, then you may request a review of your complaint by the Ombudsman:

Public Service Ombudsman for Wales
1 Fforddyr Hen Gae
Pencoed
CF35 5LJ
Tel: 0845 601 0987
http://www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk/

Welcome to Gwaun Cae Gurwan. More Info

Quality, Reliable Dentistry For All

Gwaun Cae Gurwen was established in 1985, and with use of our practice charter we have grown from strength to strength. We have been awarded for providing quality dentistry to our patients.

  • We have five modern surgeries
  • Downstairs access and wheelchair access
  • We have 5 highly skilled dentists available
  • Committed to providing quality health care.

We aim to provide an excellent quality service and product to our patients. We will discuss your requirements and needs and we will aim to achieve and exceed your expectations.