Complaints Policy

Our Commitment to you

At Bordesley Village Dental we are committed to providing high-quality dental care to all our

patients. We take feedback and complaints seriously and view them as an opportunity to learn,

improve our services, and maintain trust and transparency with our patients.

We aim to handle all complaints courteously, efficiently, and promptly so that concerns can be

resolved as quickly as possible.

The person responsible for handling all complaints in the practice is Aisha

How to Make a Complaint

We hope that most issues can be resolved quickly and informally, often at the time they arise and

with the person concerned.

If your concern cannot be resolved this way, or you would prefer to make a formal complaint, you

may do so verbally, in writing, or by email.

Complaints Made Verbally

If you make a complaint in person or by telephone:

We will listen to your concerns and, where possible, attempt to resolve them immediately.

If the Complaints Lead is not available, a team member will record your details and a brief

description of your complaint.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days, and arrangements will be made

for the Complaints Lead to contact you directly.

Complaints Made in Writing or by Email

Written and emailed complaints will be passed immediately to the Complaints Lead, who will

acknowledge receipt within 3 working days of receiving your correspondence.

Investigation and Response

We will make every effort to resolve your complaint within 10 working days of

acknowledgment.

If the investigation is likely to take longer (for example, where clinical advice is required), we

will inform you of the reason for the delay and agree on an updated timescale with you.

If your complaint involves clinical care or treatment, the matter will usually be referred to the

treating dentist, unless you specifically request otherwise.

Once our investigation is complete, we will contact you via your preferred method (letter,

email, or telephone) to share our findings and any actions taken.Where necessary, we may seek advice from our indemnity provider, insurer, or legal adviser to

ensure a fair and compliant response. In such cases, only relevant information will be shared, and

confidentiality will be maintained at all times.

Confidentiality

All complaints are treated in the strictest confidence. Patient records will remain confidential, and

only those involved in investigating or resolving your complaint will have access to the necessary

information.

Learning from Complaints

We record all complaints centrally and regularly review them as part of our governance and quality

improvement processes. This ensures we identify any trends, improve our services, and share

learning across the team.

Time Limits for Making a Complaint

Complaints should normally be made within 12 months of the incident or the date the issue came

to your attention.

However, we will always consider reasonable exceptions if there are valid reasons for the delay.

If You Are Not Satisfied

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure first. We

believe this gives us the best chance to put things right and improve our services.

However, if you remain dissatisfied, you may contact one of the following independent bodies:

The CQC: The CQC don't get directly involved with complaints made to the practice. They do,

however, encourage giving feedback to service providers.

To send feedback to the CQC please go to: https://www.cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care

Telephone: 03000 616161 (Mon to Fri, 8.30am - 5.30pm Excluding Bank Holidays)

The NHS: If you would rather not go directly to your practice, and your treatment is provided by the

NHS, you can contact your local ICB, which is responsible for NHS dental services.

england.dental-westmidlands@nhs.net

The ICB can be contacted if you feel unable to raise your concerns with the practice. The ICB,

however, cannot re-investigate the same complaints, and therefore, if you feel unhappy with how

the practice or the ICB has handled a complaint, you should contact the Parliamentary and Health

Service Ombudsman.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Telephone: 0345 015 4033

Website: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk

Private Patients: The Dental Complaints Service handles complaints made by private

patients.

Telephone: 0208 253 0800 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)

Website: https://dcs.gdc-uk.org/The GDC

Telephone: 0854 222 4141 or 0207 887 3800

Website: https://contactus.gdc-uk.org/Complaint/Process/13

To provide you with safe, effective dental care, we need to collect and store information about you and your health. Sometimes we may also receive information from other healthcare providers involved in your care. This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how we keep it safe.

We may collect and store the following types of personal information:

• Name, date of birth, address, telephone number and email
• NHS number (where relevant)

• Medical and dental history
• Clinical notes made by your dentist and other dental professionals
• X-rays, scans, clinical photographs and study models
• Treatment plans, consent forms and records of appointments
• Notes from conversations about your care
• Correspondence with other healthcare professionals
• Details of fees charged, payments made and relevant payment information
• Feedback, compliments, and details of any complaints

Most of this information is stored securely on our central patient management system. Some information may also be kept in secure manual files at the practice. We are responsible for protecting all information that we hold about you.

Only authorised team members—including dentists, dental professionals, receptionists—have access to your information, and only when necessary to carry out their duties.

We use your information to provide you with safe, effective and personalised dental care. This includes:

• Sharing relevant details with the NHS and/or private dental plan providers
• Contacting you about your dental care (via phone, email or letter)
• Informing you of products and services available at the practice (with your consent)

We may use carefully selected AI tools to support our clinical processes, for example:

• Assisting with the recording of clinician–patient conversations to improve the accuracy of clinical notes (all notes are reviewed by a clinician)
• Helping analyse radiographs to support diagnosis

Any personal data used in these tools is processed in compliance with data protection legislation.

Under the UK GDPR, we may process your information because:

• You have given consent (for example, for marketing)
• We need it to fulfil a contract
• We are required to do so by law
• It is necessary for vital interests (e.g., health and safety)
• We have a legitimate interest in providing safe dental care

You can withdraw consent for marketing at any time by contacting the practice or using the unsubscribe option in our emails.

Your information is primarily used within the practice. However, we may share it with third parties when necessary, for example:

• Your GP or other healthcare professionals involved in your care
• Hospitals or community dental services
• NHS payment authorities
• Department for Work & Pensions (for NHS exemptions)
• Your private dental plan provider (if you have one)
• Approved third-party service providers such as patient management systems or payment processors

We will only share the minimum information necessary and only when required. In some cases, we may also need to share information with official bodies such as HMRC or law enforcement agencies where required by law.

Your information is stored securely in our central computer system, with some manual files held at the practice. Only authorised staff can access your records. We take appropriate measures to protect the practice premises, computer systems, and filing systems.

We use secure specialist dental software with audit trails and regular backups. Some data may be stored in secure cloud systems, and we have strict agreements in place with all providers.

We keep dental records for 11 years after your last appointment or until your 25th birthday (whichever is later).

Under data protection law, you have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request deletion of your information in certain circumstances
• Restrict processing in certain circumstances
• Object to certain types of processing
• Request transfer of your information to another organisation

You will not be charged for exercising your rights. We will respond within one month of receiving your request.

If you need help making a request, please contact the practice.

Our website may contain links to external sites. Please be aware that these sites have their own privacy policies, and we cannot accept responsibility for how they handle your data.

If you have concerns about how your information is used, please speak to your dentist or a member of the practice team. If you feel unable to resolve the issue with us, you can contact:

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745

We review our privacy notice regularly and update it when needed.
This notice was last updated on 17th November 2025