Rosie Winterton MP, Minister of State for Health Services at the launch

A new impartial service to resolve complaints about private dental care has been launched by the General Dental Council in order to help resolve complaints about private dental care as fairly and as quickly as possible.

The Dental Complaints Service will cover the whole of the UK and will be open to patients wishing to complain about any aspect of dental care, treatment or service involving any member of a dental team. Currently, NHS dental patients can use the NHS complaints process, but private patients who have not been able to resolve their complaint with a dental practice have limited options open to them. The new service seeks to plug that gap.

The service was introduced by Hew Mathewson President of the General Dental Council, Rosie Winterton MP Minister of State for Health Services and Derek Prentice Chairman of Dental Complaints Service Advisory Board.

Hew Mathewson, said, “The aim of setting up the Dental Complaints Service is to help dental patients resolve complaints about private dental care as fairly, efficiently, transparently and quickly as we can. We hope that patients will use this service to sort out problems, and avoid the expense and delays of court action. The service will also help dental professionals to improve the quality of service they provide.”

Dissatisfied dental patients who call the Dental Complaints Service will first be encouraged to use their dental practice's own complaints procedures, if they have not already done so. If a complaint remains unresolved, Dental Complaints Service advisers will discuss it directly with the patient and dental professional concerned.

If the adviser cannot resolve matters, the complaint will go to one of a series of regional panels. The panel will meet with the dentist and complainant and recommend how best to resolve the complaint. Their emphasis will be on resolving complaints using common sense.

Serious complaints - which raise issues about patient safety and whether a practitioner should be allowed to continue practising - will continue to be dealt with by the GDC as they are now.

The Dental Complaints Service is preparing for around 2 – 4,000 complaints a year from across the UK. It is hoped that around 80 per cent of these complaints will be resolved by advisers, without the need to hold a panel.

For more information visit www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk.