Completing the return

1.The KO41b should be completed with numbers of written complaints about dental health services made by, or on behalf of, patients in the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

2. A written complaint is one that is made in writing to any member of staff or is originally made orally and subsequently recorded in writing. Once it is recorded, it should be treated as though it was made in writing from the outset. Oral complaints and comments/suggestions that do not require investigation should not be included.

3. If a written communication contains more than one complaint that requires separate investigation, then each should be recorded and counted separately. However, where a single complaint covers several aspects of care/treatment received, the complaint should be recorded, under each cause of complaint.

4.The detailed breakdown of information, including age of the patient, status of the complainant, and the subject and professional area of the complaint are only required for the new complaints received in 2024-25. They are not required for the complaints recorded as brought forward from the previous reporting period as these details will have been included in the previous year's collection.   

5. Investigations instigated by outside agencies, for example the Police or Coroners Court, should NOT be included.

6. Where practices merge after 1 April, the closed practice is not required to make a submission but the practice which is open and currently exists as a merged organisation should submit the KO41b including complaints received from the closed practice. A closed practice can submit a return under the closed contract number but may need to contact [email protected] to request that the closed contract number is added to the master list to allow a return to be completed.

7. If a practice has more than one contract, data should only be recorded for the specific contract and practice it relates to. If the data can't be split between contracts, it should be recorded just once for one contract and practice—not copied across all of them.

7. Where practices received a complaint via their ICB, if the practice investigated the complaint and replied to the complainant then it should be recorded by the practice.

8. If the ICB investigated the complaint and responded to the complainant, then the complaint will be recorded by the ICB.

9. If practices are unsure who investigated the complaint, then it should be recorded by the practice.