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CQC, GDC and patient data
Dental practice front desk readiness check: ten yes-or-no questions on missed appointments, complaints, records, advertising and fees
Ten yes-or-no questions for a UK dental practice on complaints, missed appointments, records, patient data, Botox adverts, urgent care and regulator fees.
This check is for the owner or practice manager of a UK dental practice, NHS, private or mixed. The ten questions cover complaints, missed appointments, records, patient data, review replies, treatment follow-ups, Botox advertising, the 2026/27 NHS urgent care requirement and GDC renewal dates, each taken from a rule set out in our guides. A GDC-registered professional or the practice manager reviews anything a tool drafts before it reaches a patient, and this page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.
There are ten questions and they take about five minutes. Answer from memory. "Not sure" counts as a gap, because a rule nobody in the office can recall is a rule nobody is checking.
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Dental practice front desk readiness check: ten yes-or-no questions on missed appointments, complaints, records, advertising and fees
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What each question checks
1. Do you acknowledge every complaint within three working days and send your complaints procedure with the acknowledgement? The answer that is in order is "yes". The NHS complaints regulations fix the acknowledgement at three working days. The GDC requires the practice to give the patient its procedure when it acknowledges the complaint, and to respond within the time limits it wrote itself. Source: NHS Complaints Regulations 2009; GDC Standards for the Dental Team, principle 5. The working is in The dental complaints procedure that meets the GDC and the NHS regulations.
2. Is any NHS patient charged a fee when they miss an appointment? The answer that is in order is "no". An NHS dentist should not charge a fee for a missed NHS appointment. The NHS Business Services Authority says the practice must instead have an agreed fail-to-attend and short-notice cancellation policy that every member of the practice follows. Source: NHS website; NHSBSA knowledge base article KA-01765. The working is in NHS failed-to-attend policy for a dental practice.
3. Do private patients agree your cancellation charge before they book? The answer that is in order is "yes". A private cancellation charge stands only if the patient agreed it before booking, the amount reflects what the empty slot costs the practice, and it is not charged when the slot is re-filled. Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, Part 2; CMA unfair contract terms guidance. The working is in Dental cancellation policy template for private practice.
4. Do your replies to online reviews ever confirm that the reviewer attended, or mention their appointment, treatment or bill? The answer that is in order is "no". Confirming that a reviewer attended, or naming the date, the treatment or the bill, discloses health information even when no name is used. A compliant reply answers in the reviewer's own terms and points to the complaints procedure. Source: GDC Standards for the Dental Team, principle 4. The working is in Dental practice review reply writer.
5. Was a data protection impact assessment completed before any AI tool processed patient records? The answer that is in order is "yes". Health data needs an Article 6 basis and a separate Article 9 condition. The ICO's DPIA triggers include innovative technology and special category data, so the assessment comes before the first record is processed. Source: ICO guidance on DPIAs and special category data. The working is in AI and patient data in a dental practice.
6. Does your retention policy keep NHS clinical records for 11 years? The answer that is in order is "yes". NHS dental practices in England keep clinical care records for 11 years, on the NHS Business Services Authority's published answer. The two years in the contract regulations, counted from the end of a course of treatment, is only the minimum. Source: NHSBSA knowledge base article KA-01913; GDS Contracts Regulations 2005, Schedule 3, paragraph 32. The working is in How long to keep dental patient records.
7. Do your follow-ups on unbooked treatment plans offer a discount for booking quickly or describe the risks of waiting? The answer that is in order is "no". A follow-up stays inside the GDC's standards when it restates the clinician's plan, the price and the date the quote holds to. It does not describe the risks of waiting and does not offer a discount for booking quickly. Source: GDC Standards for the Dental Team, 1.7, 2.3 and 2.4. The working is in Treatment plan follow-up email template for dental practices.
8. Do your posts, adverts or price lists name Botox, use a #botox hashtag or show before-and-after photos of it? The answer that is in order is "no". Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, so CAP Code rule 12.12 and regulation 284 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 ban advertising it to the public. A clinic may advertise a consultation for lines and wrinkles. Source: CAP Code rule 12.12; Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 284. The working is in Botox advertising rules in the UK.
9. Do you know your Required Number of Urgent Treatments for 2026/27 and how many you have delivered so far? (Answer yes if you hold no NHS contract.) The answer that is in order is "yes". From 1 April 2026 an NHS contract of 100 UDAs or more owes 11 urgent courses of treatment for every £10,000 of relevant contract value. Delivery under 96% at year end means the activity payment for the shortfall is recovered. Source: NHS England contractual guidance (updated 29 July 2026), sections 3.4 and 3.9. The working is in Unscheduled care in the 2026/27 NHS dental contract.
10. Does someone check the GDC register after 31 July and 31 December to confirm that every nurse, hygienist and dentist has renewed? The answer that is in order is "yes". Dental care professionals owe the GDC £108 by 31 July and dentists £698 by 31 December. A registrant who misses the deadline may be removed from the register, and a person who is not registered cannot practise. Source: GDC, Annual retention fee page, read 1 October 2026. The working is in CQC, GDC and ICO fees for a dental practice in 2026/27.
How to use the result
The list under your score is a to-do list. Each line names the rule, where it comes from and the page that shows how to deal with it. Put a name and a date against each one. A gap that has an owner and a date is being handled; a gap that everyone knows about and nobody owns is how firms end up explaining themselves later.
Do the check again each quarter, and again whenever a rule in this sector changes. Give it to a second person in the office without showing them your answers. Where the two of you disagree, the procedure is not written down clearly enough, and that is worth knowing whichever of you is right.
A good score is not a certificate. The questions cover the points our guides cover, which are the ones that come up most often in a small firm; they are not every duty a firm has. A GDC-registered professional or the practice manager reviews anything a tool drafts before it reaches a patient, and this page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.
Overlyft 
sets up AI assistants for dental, physio and aesthetics clinics: they prepare drafts for a person to approve. They do not make a firm compliant, and none of the ten answers depends on them.
Where this comes from: NHS Complaints Regulations 2009; GDC Standards for the Dental Team, principle 5; NHS website; NHSBSA knowledge base article KA-01765; Consumer Rights Act 2015, Part 2; CMA unfair contract terms guidance; GDC Standards for the Dental Team, principle 4; ICO guidance on DPIAs and special category data; NHSBSA knowledge base article KA-01913; GDS Contracts Regulations 2005, Schedule 3, paragraph 32; GDC Standards for the Dental Team, 1.7, 2.3 and 2.4; CAP Code rule 12.12; Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 284; NHS England contractual guidance (updated 29 July 2026), sections 3.4 and 3.9; GDC, Annual retention fee page, read 1 October 2026; each rule is set out with its source in the guide the question links to. The test record is in tests/readiness/tools-check.txt.
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.
