Legal

Complaints Policy and Procedure

Our Commitment

At Beech Cottage Dental Practice 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 Donna Patterson.

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 Integrated Care Board (ICB), which is responsible for NHS dental services.

North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board
Pemberton House, Colima Avenue
Sunderland Enterprise Park
Sunderland SR5 3XB
Telephone: 0191 512 8484
Email: Nencicb-sun.reception@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

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

Approved by: Donna Patterson, Rachael Pooley, Dr Pravin Kadam
Date Published: 12/01/2026
Next Review: October 2026

CQC Inspection Reports

Both of our practices are registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Up-to-date inspection information is available on each practice’s CQC profile:

• • Corbridge — Beech Cottage Surgery on the CQC website
  • Gosforth — Beech Cottage Dental Practice (Gosforth) on the CQC website 
    
    

Privacy & Data Protection

Beech Cottage Dental Practice is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under data protection registration number Z3377197.

For full details of how we collect, use, store and share your personal information — including your rights under UK GDPR and our retention periods — please see our Privacy Notice.

A separate privacy notice for children is included on that page.

Accessibility

For information about how this website is made accessible, and how to request information in an alternative format, please see our Accessibility Statement.