Complaints made about NHS Dental practices

Summary

The request sought the number and nature of complaints against NHS dental practices on the Isle of Man over the last five years. Manx Care disclosed anonymized data for 2017 through 2021, detailing complaint counts per practice and specific reasons, though some information was withheld under exemptions.

Key Facts

• Complaint data covers the period from 2017 to 2021.
• Practice 6 is no longer contracted by Manx Care.
• The highest number of complaints in a single year was 50 in 2018.
• Complaint compilation methods changed in August 2019.
• Data is anonymized by practice number rather than name.

Data Disclosed

• 2017: 43 complaints
• 2018: 50 complaints
• 2019: 32 complaints
• 2020: 9 complaints
• 2021: 11 complaints
• August 2019
• 2022-09-15
• 2022-10-12

Exemptions Cited

• Part exempt (specific exemption clauses not detailed in text)

Original Request

Can you please provide the number of complaints made against dental practices on the island in the last 5 years, as well as a list of the nature of the complaint and which practice they were made against.

Data Tables (6)

Full Response Text

FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 1 of 7 Year of Complaint: 2017 Anonymised Practice Information Number of Complaint Received Nature of Complaints Practice 1 5 Lack of Care / Attitude of Dentist / Charges 16 Registration / Practice Policy 2 Communication 1 x Patient Behaviour Practice 3 1 Lack of Care Practice 4 1 De-Registration Practice 5 2 Care Delivery 2 x Appointments 2 x Access to Services 2 x Lack of Care Practice 7 2 2 x Lack of Care 2 x Delay in Treatment Lack of Care De-Registration 1 x Lack of Care 1 x Registration Practice 10 0 N/A Practice 11 0 N/A Practice 12 1 Attitude of Staff Total 43 * Practice 6 is not longer contracted by Manx Care Practice 2 19 Practice 6 * 6 Practice 8 4 Practice 9 2 FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 2 of 7 Year of Complaint: 2018 Anonymised Practice Information Number of Complaint Received Nature of Complaints 4 x Charges 1 x Lack of Care 3 x Treatment by Clinician Practice 2 12 Practice Policy / De-registration 1 x Late / Availability of Appointments 1 x Attitude of Dentist 1 x Waiting Times Practice 4 0 N/A Practice 5 2 Lack of Care Practice 6 3 Appointments 1 x Delay in Treatment 1 x Lack of Care 2 x Customer Services 1 x Administrative Error 1 x Charges 1 x Communication 1 x Treatment of Clinician 1 x Appointments 3 x Attitude of Dentist 3 x Lack of Care 2 x Treatment by Clinician 1 x Attitude of Staff 1 x Communication Practice 9 0 - Practice 10 0 - Practice 11 0 - 1 x Charges 1 x Unhappy with Allocated Practice 1 x Practice Policy Total 50 * Practice 6 is not longer contracted by Manx Care Practice 1 8 Practice 3 3 Practice 7 8 Practice 8 11 Practice 12 3 FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 3 of 7 Year of Complaint: 2019 Anonymised Practice Information Number of Complaint Received Nature of Complaints 1 x Charges 1 x Clinical Practice 2 3 3 x De-registration Practice 3 1 Attitude of staff Practice 4 0 N/A Practice 5 0 N/A Practice 6 0 N/A 1 x Appointments 1 x Charges 1 x Attitude of Staff 1 x Attitude of Dentist 1 x Clinical 1 x De-registration 1 x Lack of Care / Attitude of Dentist 1 x Attitude of Staff / Lack of Care 1 x Attitude of Staff 1 x Referral to Private Dentist 2 x Clinical 1 x Attitude of Dentist / Clinical 2 x Lack of Care 1 x Treatment / Conduct of Clinician 1 x Appointments Practice 9 1 Lack of Care 1 x Attitude of Dentist / Lack of Care 1 x Attitude of Dentist / Clinical 1 x Clinical 1 x Attitude of Staff Practice 11 0 N/A 2 x Attitude of Staff 1 x Clinical 1 x Appointments Total 32 * Practice 6 is not longer contracted by Manx Care Practice 10 4 Practice 12 4 Practice 1 2 Practice 7 6 Practice 8 11 FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 4 of 7 Year of Complaint: 2020 Anonymised Practice Information Number of Complaint Received Nature of Complaints Practice 1 0 N/A Practice 2 1 Lack of Care Practice 3 1 Lack of Care Practice 4 0 N/A Practice 5 0 N/A Practice 6 0 N/A Practice 7 1 Delay in Treatment 1 x Attitude of Staff 1 x Attitude of Dentist Practice 9 1 Lack of Care Practice 10 1 Lack of Care Practice 11 0 N/A 1 x Lack of Care 1 x Attitude of Staff Total 9 * Practice 6 is not longer contracted by Manx Care Practice 8 2 Practice 12 2 FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 5 of 7 Year of Complaint: 2021 Anonymised Practice Information Number of Complaint Received Nature of Complaints Practice 1 1 Lack of Care 1 x Clinical 1 x De-Registration Practice 3 0 N/A Practice 4 0 N/A Practice 5 0 N/A Practice 6 0 N/A 1 x Attitude of Staff 1 x Appointments 1 x Communication 1 x Communication / Lack of Care Practice 9 1 Attitude of Dentist Practice 10 1 De-Registration Practice 11 0 N/A 1 x Attitude of Staff 1 x De-Registration Total 11 * Practice 6 is not longer contracted by Manx Care Practice 2 2 Practice 7 2 Practice 8 2 Practice 12 2 FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 6 of 7 Definition of Types of Complaints Definition Patients reported they did not like the attitude of the dentist. Patients reported that they did not like the attitude of staff. Type of Complaint Attitude of Staff Attitude of Dentist Appointments Patients reported that they were unhappy regarding practice policy with regards to registration. Charges Clinical Communication Delay in Treatment De-Registration Lack of Care Referral to Private Dentist Practice Policy / Registration Patients reported that they were not happy with the care received. Patients reported that they were unhappy about being referred to a private dentist for treatment. Patients reported difficulty in either making appointments or having appointments postponed numerous times. Patients reported they were unhappy with the care delivered. Patients advised that they were not happy with the charges they incurred i.e private care or band charge. Patients reported they were not happy with the clinical treatment received. Patients reported they were unhappy with how the staff / dentists communicated with them. Patients reported that there was a delay in treatment provided. Patients reported that they were unhappy about being removed from a NHS dental practice. Care Delivery Administrative Error Administration error occurred FOI 2635593 Appendix Page 7 of 7 Primary and Community Integrated Care changed the way in which complaints were compiled in August 2019. Prior to this, 2017 – 2019 Manx Care requested a report from practices detailing the number and nature of complaints received during that year. Some of these complaints may have been duplicated on the information submitted as some patients may have complained directly to Manx Care previously DHSC either before or during the complaint to with the practice. Those who complained directly to Manx Care, were advised to raise the complaint directly with the practice to enable the practice to investigate the complaint under their own practice based complaints procedure. In 2019, Manx Care requested that all complaints are logged with them directly and request a report from the contracted dental practice to advise Manx Care of the outcome of the complaint. If the complainant is not happy with the outcome of the complaint, the complaint can be escalated to the Independent Review Body.

Manx Care Noble’s Hospital, Strang Braddan, Isle of Man IM4 4R (01624) 650 000

Our ref: 2635593 12 October 2022

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 15th September 2022 which states:

"Can you please provide the number of complaints made against dental practices on the island in the last 5 years, as well as a list of the nature of the complaint and which practice they were made against."

Our Response

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide this information, because of an exemption under Section 30 (Economy and commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act. As this exemptions falls subject to a public interest test. The public interest test must be something that is of serious concern and benefit the public at large. Factors in favour of disclosure • Transparency of information Factors in favour of withholding • This could affect allocations to NHS dental practices as patients could refuse an allocation to a particular practice based on the information released providing Practice names.

In taking these factors into account, Manx Care determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing this information. To provide advice and assistance please find attached FOI 2635593 Appendix. Please quote the reference number 2635593 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and

should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

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I will now close your request as of this date.