Decision Report 201407051

Summary

Mr C saw a dentist at the practice. Arrangements were made for future treatment and Mr C attended a further appointment a few weeks later. In the interim, ownership of the practice had changed and Mr C was seen by a new dentist. He complained that the practice had not advised him of this change. The practice responded to Mr C's complaint and explained that they had been assured by the previous owner that all patients would be advised of the changes prior to the transfer. They also advised that no other patients had reported problems with this and that they were reassured that it had been an isolated incident.

After investigating Mr C's complaint, we accepted his position that he was not made aware of the upcoming changes at the practice. However, as the practice expected all patients to have been informed of this by the previous owner, we considered it was reasonable that they did not take steps to separately advise Mr C of the changes. Consequently, we did not uphold this complaint. We made a recommendation to the practice that they review their complaints handling procedure as, during our investigation, it was noted that some parts were not in line with Scottish Government guidance on NHS complaints.

Recommendations

We recommended that the practice:

• review their complaints procedure to ensure that it reflects the requirements of the Scottish Government's 'Can I help you?' guidance.