Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices

About This Course

Course 2: “Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices” equips dental practitioners with essential knowledge and skills for handling complaints, including conflict resolution, staff training, and continuous improvement.

Why Take This Course?

This course addresses a common problem or challenge that UK dental professionals face – handling complaints effectively. By providing knowledge and skills in understanding complaints handling, resolving complaints and conflict resolution, and staff training and support, dental practitioners are equipped to manage complaints in their practices with confidence. The course emphasizes the importance of effective communication, mediation skills, and continuous improvement to resolve complaints and prevent their recurrence. With the guidance provided in this course, dental professionals can develop an implementation plan to apply these strategies in their practices and provide better service to their patients.

Course 2, “Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices,” will provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to handle complaints in your dental practice. Divided into three sections, the course covers understanding complaints handling, resolving complaints and conflict resolution, and staff training and support. You will learn effective complaint resolution principles, communication and mediation skills, the importance of apology and redress, and how to escalate complaints. The course also emphasizes continuous improvement and learning from complaints, staff training on complaints handling, emotional support, leadership in complaints handling, and monitoring and evaluation of complaints handling processes. Finally, the course concludes with a summary of key concepts and an exercise to develop an implementation plan for the strategies learned.

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How This Course Supports GDC Enhanced Dental CPD

“Dental professionals have a duty to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. A primary qualification is only the first step in their education and development which should last throughout their professional life” General Dental Council

Learning Objectives	Anticipated Outcomes
1: By the end of this course, students will be able to understand the importance of active listening and empathy in effectively handling complaints in dental practices.	1: Upon completion of the course, students are expected to exhibit enhanced skills in effectively handling complaints, resulting in improved satisfaction and resolution for complainants.
2: Upon completion, learners will have the capacity to conduct thorough investigations to gather relevant information and identify the root causes of complaints.	2: As a result of this course, learners will likely contribute to a positive practice environment by fostering effective communication, empathy, and patient-centeredness in complaints handling.
3: Students will demonstrate their ability to communicate effectively with complainants, ensuring clear and empathetic dialogue while managing expectations.	3: The course should lead to an increased ability to identify the underlying causes of complaints, enabling dental professionals to implement targeted solutions and preventive measures.
4: By the final session, participants will have mastered techniques for proposing and implementing appropriate resolutions and solutions to address complaints.	4: In the wider context, the course aims to contribute to a culture of continuous improvement in complaints handling, benefiting both patients and dental practices.
5: At the course’s conclusion, attendees will have developed the competency to proactively identify areas for improvement in complaints handling processes and contribute to enhancing patient satisfaction in dental practices.	5: Following the course, the expectation is that students will actively contribute to the reputation and success of dental practices by effectively addressing complaints and promoting positive patient experiences.

Regulatory Standards

GDC	CQC
✅ A – Effective Communication ✅ B – Effective Management ✅ C – Maintenance in Field of Practice ✅ D – Maintenance in Patient Confidence	✅ Caring ✅ Effective ✅ Leadership ✅ Responsive ✅ Safe

🕐 60 minutes of Enhanced Dental CPD

Course Description

Course 2, titled “Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices,” is designed to equip dental practitioners with the essential knowledge and skills for handling complaints in their practices. The course is divided into three sections. Section 1, “Understanding Complaints Handling,” covers the significance of effective complaints management, types of complaints, and the policies and procedures for handling them. It also provides techniques for gathering and assessing complaint information, followed by case studies and exercises for practical application. Section 2, “Resolving Complaints and Conflict Resolution,” imparts principles of effective complaint resolution, communication and mediation skills, the importance of apology and redress, and guidance on escalating complaints. It also emphasizes continuous improvement and learning from complaints. The third section, “Staff Training and Support,” focuses on the importance of staff training on complaints handling and the emotional support needed to deal with such situations. This section also stresses the role of leadership in complaints handling and monitoring and evaluation of complaints handling processes. Finally, the course concludes with a summary of key concepts and an exercise to develop an implementation plan for the strategies learned.

Course Outline

Section 1

Section 1 of the Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices course covers the importance of complaints handling in dental practices, types and sources of complaints, complaints handling policies and procedures, gathering and assessing complaint information, and case studies and exercises to apply complaints handling principles and techniques.

Section 2

Section 2 of the course Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices focuses on resolving complaints and conflict resolution. It covers the principles of effective resolution, communication and mediation skills, apology and redress, escalation and external complaints handling, and continuous improvement and learning from complaints. It also emphasizes the importance of empathy, respect, and cultural sensitivity in complaint resolution.

Section 3

Section 3 of Course 2: Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices covers staff training and support, including the importance of staff training in effective complaints handling, techniques for developing staff skills in communication, conflict resolution, and empathy, and the role of leadership in setting the tone for effective complaints handling. It also explores techniques for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of complaints handling processes and developing an implementation plan for applying the principles and strategies of effective complaints handling in your dental practice.

Section 4

Section 4 of the Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices course covers the implementation of effective complaints handling policies and procedures in dental practices. It emphasizes the importance of resolving complaints and conflict resolution, staff training and support, and monitoring and evaluating complaints handling processes for continuous improvement. The section also includes case studies and exercises to apply complaints handling principles and techniques.

Section 5

Section 5 of Course 2: Effective Complaints Handling in Dental Practices covers the practical application of the complaints handling principles and techniques learned in the previous sections. This section includes case studies and exercises to develop skills in assessing, prioritizing, and resolving complaints based on severity and urgency. It also covers the principles of effective complaint resolution, communication and mediation skills, apology and redress, escalation and external complaints handling, continuous improvement and learning from complaints, staff training and support, the role of leadership in complaints handling, and monitoring and evaluation of complaints handling processes. By the end of this section, learners will have a clear understanding of how to apply effective complaints handling practices in their dental practice.

Course Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This course was extremely helpful in improving my complaints handling skills. The case studies and exercises in Section 1 were particularly useful in practising how to gather and assess complaint information.

✅ Met Course Objectives

✅ Met Course Outcomes

✅ Would Recommend

✅ Had Positive Impact

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I highly recommend this course to all dental practitioners. Section 2 provided invaluable guidance on effective complaint resolution and conflict resolution, and the emphasis on continuous improvement and learning from complaints was refreshing.

✅ Met Course Objectives

✅ Met Course Outcomes

✅ Would Recommend

✅ Had Positive Impact

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The emphasis on staff training and emotional support in Section 3 was impressive. This course provided me with the tools to create a comprehensive complaints handling process in my practice, and the exercise to develop an implementation plan was a great way to conclude the course.

✅ Met Course Objectives

✅ Met Course Outcomes

✅ Would Recommend

✅ Had Positive Impact

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