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Settling complaints early · DENTAL AND VETERINARY CLINICS

Small complaints turn into big ones.

What owners tell us

‘A patient complains, it gets lost between reception and the dentist, and then it’s a formal case.’

Every complaint, from every channel, is logged and acknowledged within a day, with a named person and the deadlines from your own procedure. You approve every final reply.

What Changes

The journey for settling complaints early in a dental and veterinary clinics business. Today: 2 steps you do and 3 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.

Dental and Veterinary Clinics: patient; Dental Complaints Service.

Today

  1. Waiting: A complaint lands in someone’s inbox.
  2. Waiting: It’s forwarded and nobody owns it.
  3. You: The customer chases and you find out.
  4. You: You write a reply from memory, late.
  5. Waiting: The customer goes to the ombudsman.
Steps You Do
2
Times It Waits
3

With the Fix

  1. Runs on its own: Complaint logged, from any channel.
  2. Runs on its own: Acknowledged that day or the next, with a named person.
  3. Runs on its own: Deadlines from your own procedure set.
  4. Runs on its own: Reply drafted from the full history.
  5. You: You approve the final reply.
  6. Runs on its own: Each month, the causes that keep coming back are listed.
Steps You Do
1
Times It Waits
0
  1. Every complaint is logged in one place, including ones that never use the word.
  2. The customer gets an acknowledgement the same or next working day, with a named person.
  3. Each complaint carries the deadlines from your procedure and your scheme.
  4. You see every open complaint, how old it is and what’s due next.
  5. A draft response is prepared from the full history for you to approve.
  6. Each month, closed complaints are reviewed for the causes that keep coming back.

Illustrative example. Today: A note at reception: “[Patient] unhappy with [treatment], wants to speak to someone.” Dated [date]. No reply sent. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Patient], [treatment]: acknowledged [date] by [Name], response due [date], [n] working days left. Draft ready. [Approve]”.

Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.

What It Costs You

Private dental complaints led to £670,500 in remedies in 2024, and the Dental Complaints Service steps in when a patient has had no response within 10 working days.

Source: GDC Dental Complaints Service

What You Do

Approves every final response. Clinical judgements stay with the clinician.

What It Runs On

Your email, phone notes, review accounts and your complaints procedure.

Agreed Before We Start

Time to acknowledge, time to close, and complaints that reach an ombudsman or mediator, before and after.

What We Agree Before We Start

MeasureBeforeAfter
Time to acknowledge
Time to close
Complaints that reach an ombudsman or mediator

We fill this in with you before any work starts.

Questions Owners Ask

Does anything go out without my approval?
The acknowledgement uses wording you approve once. Every final response is approved by you.
Which complaint schemes does it work with?
Deadlines are set from your own complaints procedure and the scheme you belong to, such as The Property Ombudsman, the Legal Ombudsman, The Motor Ombudsman or the Dental Complaints Service.
Does it pick up complaints in online reviews?
Yes, where the review site lets us read them.

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