Dental Complaints Management
Receiving and resolving patient's complaints is never a welcome addition to a busy work schedule. In general, the place of a business in its consumers' affections will be the product of its attitude and response when things go wrong and a patient complains.
Few of the complaints received by dental businesses are clinical. Common themes for dental complaints are interpersonal relationships and a lack of information; as a result, the patient feels that:
- They have not received all details of the procedure and what to expect before, during and after the treatment
- You do not care enough.
- The treatment has failed to deliver the expected results.
- The team did not listen to the patient's needs and concerns
Even when the dental team has done everything possible to ensure treatments go as planned, patients may still complain about inadequate post-treatment care or another aspect of their care beyond the team's control.
When a patient complains, initially, try to understand the problem by just listening to the patient. When patients feel listened to, they feel cared about.
Patients want to be heard. Do not stop the patient from explaining all their symptoms; even after the clinical diagnosis has been made, listen sympathetically and suggest the procedure to address their concerns. This will confirm to the patient that you have understood them correctly and suggested treatment will help
Some patients come to the practice with a problem bothering them for days or even weeks. Some of these patients might appear calm and composed; others might be anxious. In either case, they expect the team to be polite. However, due to work pressure, the team might be impatient sometimes, and patients find this unacceptable.
Even in the most stressful situations, dental professionals must be composed and be polite. Even with dissatisfied or angry patients, maintain a polite tone. If their problems are responded to appropriately, they might even write a positive online review
Over 90% of dental patients check online reviews of dentists before they book an appointment. So, it is important to offer patients the best dental experience and address all their concerns before they escalate.
To avoid patients from writing about their negative experience on a public platform, discuss their treatments with them in detail, explain all possible consequences, and make sure that patients are well acquainted with all post-treatment care instructions.
The Regulation of Dental Services Programme Board- Complaints Review
In a highly regulated environment, lead bodies will likely be in conflict with each other. To address such conflicts the Regulation of Dental Services Programme Board was formed.
The board comprises organisations with a role and responsibility for setting, managing, and regulating care provision in England. It aims to jointly ensure that patients receive high-quality, safe dental services from professionals and organisations that are competent and meet national standards, and that services improve.
The board comprises of representatives from:
- Care Quality Commission
- Department of Health
- General Dental Council
- NHS England.
Its work is supported and underpinned by:
- NHS Business Services Authority
- Healthwatch England and the local Healthwatch network
The board's purpose is to review the approach to dental regulation across England and assess the effectiveness of current arrangements to develop a more streamlined, joined up and effective model of regulation.
The Boards report, 'Working together, delivering change', looks back at the board's last three years of work; it Includes a Joint statement on the dental complaints system
to clarify to patients the roles of national bodies, giving consistent and clear signposting to the correct route for making a complaint. Following an investigation of the complaints system, the board recognised that:
- The dental complaints system is complex and confusing for patients, providers, and regulators – especially given the mixed public/private provision of dental services.
- Overlaps between organisations bring a lack of clarity, with multiple organisations potentially responsible for different aspects of the same complaint.
- There is a lack of consistency: different organisations are subject to different timeframes for dealing with complaints and cover different UK nations.
- Patients who initially approach the 'wrong' body may then be lost in the system completely.
In March 2016, the RDSPB held a stakeholder workshop that discussed developing a single public-facing statement on dental complaints, which all our organisations could sign up to. The aim would be to give patients consistent and clear messages about what to do when they have a problem with their dental treatment.
Following an investigation, the board issued a joint statement to clarify :
What do we mean by 'complaints'?
The joint statement covers all dental complaints and concerns, from the relatively minor to those that could have implications for a professional's fitness to practise, and views them as a subset of wider feedback about services – which can be positive or negative. In its ordinary sense, we use 'complaints' to mean any statement that service or individual dentist has not met the standard people would expect.
The statement is primarily intended for dental providers and other relevant bodies to enable them to check that the wording in their patient-facing materials and processes is compatible with it. Patients receive consistent and clear signposting wherever they first enquire. Members of the RDSPB are promoting the statement and using it in communications with patients to clarify the roles of national bodies and ensure a shared understanding of the correct route for complaints.
Patients will not necessarily see the statement itself. However, it was written with them in mind, and we would be happy for organisations to use the content when communicating with them.
In addition to the business-building benefits of successfully resolving customer complaints, dental businesses must observe regulatory requirements for complaints handling. This relates to GDC Principle 5 Have a clear and effective complaints handling system and CQC Regulation 16: Receiving and acting on complaints
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014:
Regulation 16 Receiving and acting on complaints says:
1. Any complaint received must be investigated, and necessary and proportionate action taken in response to any failure identified by the complaint or investigation.
2. The registered person must establish and operate an accessible system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling, and responding to complaints by service users and other persons concerning the regulated activity.
3. The registered person must provide to the Commission when requested within 28 days of receipt of the request, a summary of—
- Complaints made
- Responses made by the registered person and any further correspondence with the complainants concerning the complaints, and
- Any other relevant information concerning the complaints requested by the Commission
Practices must have an effective complaint handling system for patients to register complaints about their care and treatment. The system must :
- identify
- collect
- handle
- respond to complaints
Each practice should appoint a complaints lead responsible for ensuring all complaints are thoroughly investigated, and remedial action is taken when the investigation identifies shortfalls.
The CQC can prosecute for a breach of Regulation 16 related to failure to provide information about a complaint within 28 days when requested to do so. They can move directly to prosecution without first serving a Warning Notice. In addition, CQC may take any other regulatory action in response to breaches of this regulation. Regulation 16 says:
16(1) Any complaint received must be investigated, and necessary and proportionate action must be taken in response to any failure identified by the complaint or investigation.
- People must be able to make a complaint to any staff member, either verbally or in writing.
- All staff must know how to respond when they receive a complaint.
- Unless they are anonymous, all complaints should be acknowledged, whether they are written or verbal.
- Complainants must not be discriminated against or victimised. In particular, people's care and treatment must not be affected if they make a complaint or if somebody complains on their behalf.
- Appropriate action must be taken without delay to respond to any failures identified by a complaint or the investigation of a complaint.
- The information must be available to a complainant about how to act if they are not satisfied with how the provider manages and responds to their complaint. Information should include the internal procedures that the provider must follow and should explain when complaints should be escalated to other appropriate bodies.
- Where complainants escalate their complaint externally because they are dissatisfied with the local outcome, the provider should cooperate with any independent review or process.
16(2) The registered person must establish and operate an accessible system effectively for identifying, receiving, recording, handling, and responding to complaints by service users and other persons concerning the carrying on of the regulated activity.
- Information and guidance about how to complain must be available and accessible to everyone who uses the service. It should be available in appropriate languages and formats to meet the needs of the people using the service.
- Providers must tell people how to complain, offer support and provide the level of support needed to help them make a complaint; this may be through advocates, interpreter services, and any other support identified or requested.
- When complainants do not wish to identify themselves, the provider must still follow its complaints process as far as possible.
- Providers must have effective systems to make sure that all complaints are investigated without delay; this includes:
Investigating to establish the immediate action required, including referral to appropriate authorities for investigation. Such as professional regulators or local authority safeguarding teams.
Ensuring appropriate investigations identify what might have caused the complaint and acting to prevent similar complaints.
When the complainant has identified themselves, investigating and responding to them and where relevant their family and carers without delay.
- Providers should monitor complaints over- time, looking for trends and areas of risk that may be addressed.
- Staff and others involved in the assessment and investigation of complaints must have the right level of knowledge and skill. They should understand the provider's complaints process and be knowledgeable about current related guidance.
- Consent and confidentiality must not be compromised during the complaints process unless there are professional or statutory obligations that make this necessary, such as safeguarding.
- Complainants, and those about whom complaints are made, must be kept informed of the status of their complaint and its investigation and be advised of any changes made as a result.
- Providers must maintain a record of all complaints, outcomes and actions taken in response to complaints. Where no action is taken, the reasons for this should be recorded.
- Providers must act in accordance with Regulation 20: Duty of Candour in respect of complaints about care and treatment that have resulted in a notifiable safety incident.
16(3) The registered person must provide to the Commission when requested to do so and by no later than 28 days beginning on the day after receipt of the request, a summary of—
(a) complaints made under such complaints system,
(b) responses made by the registered person to such complaints and any further correspondence with the complainants concerning such complaints, and
(c) any other relevant information concerning such complaints as the Commission may request
Ensuring that every complaint becomes an opportunity to make improvements is a solution-focused approach to quality development; this approach requires managers to be objective and systematic and to view shortfalls in terms of opportunities to improve systems, team training and ultimately the quality of care provided
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If you are looking for support with your team or any training needs please feel to contact us:
Enquiries@Glenys-Bridges.co.uk
Telephone:
Glenys: 07973361390
Rebecca: 07748 156505