Response from Recent Dental Complaint You All Helped Me To Compose. Thank You.

[sapphy]

Dear *** ******,

Thank you for your letter of complaint to *** ******* about your recent appointment (dated **/**/****) at ********* ****** ****.

I have now had the chance to fully investigate the matter and provide you with a full response.

Please be aware that at ********* ****** **** we take complaints very seriously indeed and always aim to use them as learning experiences in the aim of continually improving the service and clinical care we offer to our patients.

I note from your complaint that you were unhappy with your recent visit at *** after the dentist who saw you (** ****) gave you two injections of an adrenaline-containing local anaesthetic. You also felt that the dentist did not act in a concerned manner in the surgery. You were also unhappy as you felt that the review that you subsequently left on *** choices was initially removed by *** before you had to reinstate it, and that the response to your review contradicted or dismissed your concerns.

I have had the chance to discuss the matter with ** ****, who was very sorry to hear that you felt the need to complain about *** care for you, and welcomed the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

It was apparent to ** **** that there seemed to have been a breakdown in communication between the two of you, and *** is very sorry for that breakdown in communication. ** **** has taken on board the comments you have made about the way *** cared for you, and has assured me that *** always tries to care for all *** patients in an empathetic way but *** will now endeavour to redouble *** efforts to ensure that *** provides empathetic treatment for all *** patients in future.

With respect to ** **** administering the local anaesthetic containing adrenaline, the matter was discussed with myself and the incident was recorded in our incident logs file and an action plan was drawn up.

This action plan included firstly ** **** carrying out reflective learning on the incident in order to ensure that the same thing does not happen again in the future. I carried out a tutorial with *** on the dental management of patients with cardio-vascular disease, including those with atrial fibrillation. *** has also attended a course on dental local anaesthesia. Since the incident I also carried out team training for the entire practice on the dental management of patients with cardio-vascular disease, with particular emphasis on atrial fibrillation. I have also created a practice policy on this which has been read and understood by the entire team.

With regards to * ****’s training, I would also like to explain that although *** is a fully qualified dentist, *** is currently undergoing a period of foundation training which occasionally required *** to obtain advice when necessary. I have therefore now also created a policy that required ** **** to check with myself before proceeding with any treatment in patients who have complex medical histories and in particular patients with any heart conditions such as Atrial Fibrillation.

As mentioned, the incident has been logged, team training has been carried out, ** **** has carried out a reflective learning and has attended additional courses, and I have improved the clinical governance within the practice by means of addition protocols and policies to ensure that a repeat incident does not occur in the future.

You also mentioned our conversation in relation to the review that you left on *** choices. If you felt that I was abrupt in discussing this planned review I can only apologise as I was not my intention. The practice takes all reviews, both positive and negative and tries to use them as learning experiences so we can improve our practice and delivery of care to our patients. I can assure you, however, that *** did not actively remove the review from *** choices, as we are unable to do that anyway. The response that we provided on *** choices to your review also has to be provided in such a way to preserve your confidentiality. Therefore, it is not possible to assume who wrote the review, and we must word our response to ensure that your confidentiality was protected. In no way did we intend to dismiss your concerns.

Once again, I can only apologize that the service that you received at *** what not to a satisfactory standard, and I also apologize for the distress that was caused following your visit with us and thereafter. I hope I have managed to demonstrate the steps that we have taken to ensure that a similar incident does not occur in the future and invite you to the practice to have a further discussion in regards to this if you so wish.

In the meantime, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me on ****-******* or by email to: *********@*******************.co.uk

Kind Regards

**** ********

Principal

********* ****** ****

** ****** *****

********* **** ****

*** ***

****-*******

[pottypete1]

Many years ago I had a very bad reaction to local anaesthetic with adrenaline having been administered in the dentist's chair to numb my lower jaw. I think he hit a blood vessel.

My current dentist, who's partner coincidentally also suffers from AF, has a BIG note on my file NO ADRENALINE.

Lengthy letters of apology are too late!

[sapphy in reply to pottypete1]

They are too late, but I didn't want to let it go and somebody else end up in A & E as I did. What worrys me is that they had so much training to do after the event. My new dentist is lovely, hes put it in a few places no adrenaline. He also had an aunt who lived until her 90's who had AF and could tell me exactly what he understood it to be...

[Elaine1951]

Well done.

[sapphy in reply to Elaine1951]

Thank you Elaine, I just have to wait for the dental associations and NHS England to reply now.

[irene75359]

So glad you followed this through - often methods and policies only change for the better when some victim raises a massive stink about shoddy treatment. Hope you are over it all now.

[sapphy in reply to irene75359]

Thank you Irene, Iam the waiting list for the local dental hospital to have it removed. Turned out she should not even have attempted to fill it.

[irene75359 in reply to sapphy]

I hope you don't have to wait too long - good luck.

[sapphy in reply to irene75359]

Thank you Irene

[Dodie117]

Very well done as we often let these things slide. And although late at least they have taken your complaint seriously and done quite a lot to change their practice and educate staff. I think that's what is good about the system here. We usually complain to improve practice and get an apology - not to sue and put every one on the defensive.

So well done to the practice too for taking all this on board.

[sapphy]

I didn't want anyone else to experience what I did as their outcome might have been worse.