A dental practice in the Peterborough area

3. Mr R complains the Practice removed him from its list of patients in September 2021. The Practice made the decision in line with its zero-tolerance policy on patients’ behaviour. It decided it could no longer treat Mr R because of his threatening and abusive behaviour on several occasions (which Mr R strongly disputes).

4. Mr R feels the Practice’s staff colluded to make sure he was removed from its list of patients and to prevent him finding another dentist. Mr R has attended the Practice since 2005 and tells us there was previously no cause for concern.

5. Mr R does not have a dentist and says he needs treatment. Mr R tells us he is not in a financial position to buy private dental insurance and cannot access NHS dental care. Mr R also tells us his mental health has suffered because he was removed from the patient list. He is upset because of the Practice’s accusation he was aggressive.

6. As a result of his complaint, Mr R has asked to be reinstated as a patient. If reinstatement is not possible, Mr R wants help finding another NHS dentist in his area.

8. Mr R is unhappy he was removed from the Practice’s list of patients. He has attended the Practice since 2005. The Practice removed Mr R as a patient in line with its zero-tolerance policy.

9. The Practice feels Mr R was intimidating and abusive towards staff after a dispute in September 2021. They sent him a written warning which confirmed any further incidents of abusive or aggressive behaviour would result in Mr R being removed from its list of patients.

10. After a later telephone conversation, the Practice again said Mr R had spoken in an aggressive and threatening manner towards staff at the Practice, so a decision was made to stop offering treatment to Mr R. He was told of this decision in a letter which was written in late September 2021.

11. Mr R does not agree he was aggressive or abusive and is unhappy the Practice said he was. In a letter, Mr R’s GP asked the Practice to reconsider its decision and reinstate Mr R as a patient.

12. Mr R’s GP says depression and the stress he experiences attending appointments can make him seem aggressive.

13. There are occasions when we decide there are other reasons why we should not investigate a complaint made to us. One of those reasons is if the outcome sought is not achievable. In this case, we will not be able to meet the outcome Mr R wants and because of this, we have decided not to investigate his complaint.

14. The ‘What we can and can’t do’ section of our website states, ‘We can ask an organisation to look again at a decision it has made, but only if it is clear that it made mistakes, acted unfairly, or didn’t follow its process when making it.’

15. In the same section of our website, when outlining what we cannot do, it states, ‘We can’t make an organisation cancel or change a decision it is entitled to make as part of its responsibilities (for example, a claim for benefits or other entitlements), or replace its decision with our own.’

16. As the Practice has removed Mr R from its patient list in line with its zero-tolerance policy, we cannot demand it reinstate him as a patient. We have reviewed the policy and found the Practice has followed its process correctly.

17. As an organisation, we can make recommendations for changes to processes that may result in service improvements, but we cannot demand the Practice change a decision it is entitled to make, whatever findings we may or may not make because of an investigation.

18. We have made no findings about the concerns Mr R raised. We have not found he acted in an aggressive manner and equally cannot say the decision the Practice made is wrong. We are unable to get what Mr R wants to resolve his complaint and so have decided not to investigate his concerns.

19. Before bringing his concerns to us, Mr R corresponded with NHS England. In NHS England’s response, it provided Mr R with a link to the NHS general dental care section of its website. In this section of the website, there is information on how to look for NHS registered dentists in his area. We have included details of the website for reference in the cover letter sent alongside this statement.

20. We cannot offer any more support or assurance about finding a dentist who is taking on patients.

21. We wish Mr R well for the future and hope this statement clearly outlines the reasons for our decision.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mr R’s complaint about a dental practice in the Peterborough area (the Practice). We understand that the Practice’s decision to remove Mr R from its list of patients has caused him problems, and we are sorry to hear he is finding it difficult to find another dentist.

2. We have decided not to investigate this complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome Mr R wants us to achieve.