The IDA Dental Complaints Resolution Service (DCRS) Annual Report for 2023 has been published. Once again, the Report shows that the IDA DCRS provides an invaluable service to patients and dentists. Where parties sometimes see no way forward, the Service helps them to find common ground.

Mary Culliton, Facilitator of the IDA DCRS, says that dentists engaging with the Service is what makes it successful: “The Service is only as good as the people who participate in it and we are so grateful to the large number of dentists who respond immediately and with a very proactive approach”.

Fintan Hourihan, IDA CEO, highlights the success of the Service: “Since 2012, we estimate that the Service has received over 2,000 phone calls, 10,000 emails or letters, has accepted over 1,500 complaints, and has helped to resolve well over 800 of those complaints. Many other of those complaints we feel certain have been resolved but the resolution hasn’t been confirmed to the Service. We are very confident in asserting that the IDA DCRS is helping, directly or indirectly, to resolve three out of four complaints it receives”.

Dr Martin Foster, Head of Dental Services, Ireland for Dental Protection says the strength of the IDA DCRS is that patients and dentists who engage with it feel listened to: “This sense of being listened to is immediately apparent, not just to a patient who complains but to the dentist who is on the receiving end of the complaint too”.

Click here to read the report.