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Waterside Court, Falmouth Road, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 8AW

Complaints Policy

In this practice we take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. This procedure is based on these objectives. Our aim is to react to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We welcome constructive criticisms and complaints so that we can learn and improve our service. We respond to customers’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

  • We will deal with complaints courteously and promptly and aim to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

  • If you wish to make a complaint or simply let us know how we could have done better, please contact Kate Williams, our Complaints’ Manager:
    • By telephone on 01326 378969
    • By emailing
    • By letter to Kate Williams, Practice Manager, Waterside Dentalcare, Falmouth Road, Penryn TR10 8AW
    • In person.

  • The Complaints’ Manager usually works at the practice 09.00-17.00 Tuesday-Friday and will endeavour to be available during these times. You may find it more convenient to make an appointment with Kate to ensure that she can dedicate sufficient time to meet with you.

  • If you contact the practice to make a complaint and the Complaints’ Manager is not available, we will arrange a convenient time for them to contact you. We will ask you for brief details of your complaint so that the Complaints’ Manager can gather any useful information before contacting you. You will be given a copy of the notes made for the Complaints’ Manager.

  • If the matter requires a more immediate response, we will arrange for a senior member of the dental team to deal with it.

  • If your complaint is about your dental treatment or the fee charged, we will usually ask the dentist concerned to contact you, unless you do not want this.

  • We acknowledge all complaints in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within 3 working days.

  • Investigating a complaint
    We will offer to discuss the complaint with you and will ask how you would like to be kept informed of developments – by telephone, letters or e-mail or by face-to-face meetings. We will let you know how we will deal with your complaint and the likely time that the investigation will take to complete. If you do not wish to discuss the complaint further, we will still let you know the expected timescale for completing the investigation.

  • We will investigate your complaint promptly, usually within 10 working days or, if the issue is complex, within 6 months and, as far as reasonably practicable, will let you know how our investigation is progressing.

  • When we have completed our investigation, we will provide you with a full written report, unless you have told us that you do not wish for further communication. The report will explain how we considered the complaint, the conclusions we reached for each part of your complaint, details of any remedial action we have taken and whether further action is needed.

  • We keep proper and comprehensive records of any complaints that we receive and the action we have taken following investigation. We review these records regularly to ensure that we recognise our mistakes and take every opportunity to improve our service.

  • If your complaint was about your dental treatment and you are not satisfied with the result of our investigation, you can take up the matter with a relevant external organisation.
    For complaints about private treatment:
    Dental Complaints Service, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ
    (020 8253 0800 or online at https://contactus.gdc-uk.org/dcs/Complaint/PrivatePatients).

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