Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether any public body holds and is able to publish practice-level data on the total number of complaints made about individual dental practices that receive NHS General Dental Services payments, including complaints relating to private treatment provided by those practices in each of the last five years.
Complaints about dentists and dental practices can be made through a number of different mechanisms - directly with the practice; with the NHS Board in relation to NHS treatment; through Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) for private treatment; and through the General Dental Council (GDC) as the independent statutory regulator for members of the dental team.
As complaints can be made through one or more of these mechanisms, and each body is responsible for the data they hold, it is not possible for Scottish Government to publish practice-level data on the total number of complaints made, including those relating to private treatment, about individual practices that receive NHS General Dental Services (GDS) payments.