Complaint handling best practice

Together with 28 organisations from across the dental sector, the GDC has ​developed a set of universal principles for handling complaints about dental professionals. The six core principles provide a simple template for best practice, helping professionals and patients to get the most from feedback and complaints, for the benefit of all.​​​​

The principles set out a very clear picture of what patients can expect when providing feedback or making a complaint.

The six core principles are:

1. All of your feedback is important to us.
2. We want to make it easy for you to raise a concern or complain, if you need to.
3. We follow a complaints procedure and keep you informed.
4. We will try to answer all your questions and any concerns you raise.
5. We want you to have a positive experience of making a complaint.
6. Your feedback helps us to improve our service.

A poster and leaflet showing these core principles are available for display on walls and in waiting areas of dental practices. By using these materials, dental professionals can clearly demonstrate to patients that they follow a good complaint handling procedure. 

In addition, we have developed a social media toolkit which contains example Facebook and Twitter posts, plus visual assets, along with a news story template that you may wish to publish on your website to tell your patients about this initiative. ​

The poster and leaflet are also available in hard copy - please get in touch and we'll send you some.

How the principles were developed

The principles of good complaint handling were developed by the Profession-wide Complaint Handling Initiative Working Group which included the following organisations: Association of Dental Administrators and Managers, Association of Dental Groups, British Association of Dental Nurses, British Association of Dental Therapists, British Dental Association, British Orthodontic Society, British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy, Bupa Dental Care, Care Quality Commission, CFC Underwriting, CODE, DDU, Dental Complaints Service, Dental Protection, Dental Technologists Association, Department of Health and Social Care, General Dental Council, Health Education England, LDC Confederation, MDDUS, mydentist, NHS Digital, NHS England, Orthodontic National Group, Orthodontic Technicians Association, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Simplyhealth, Society of British Dental Nurses. This work was also informed by the views of dental patients.