Responding to dental reviews without disclosing patient information

The instinct when a review is unfair is to put the record straight. In a dental practice, that instinct is the problem. A public reply that explains what really happened almost always discloses something about a patient.

The rule

The GDC says you must protect the confidentiality of patients' information, and that this covers personal details, medical history, what treatment they are having and how much it costs ^[4]. It also says you must not post any information or comments about patients on social networking or blogging sites ^[4]. A reply on Google is posted publicly under the review, appears as the business, and the reviewer is notified ^[2]. I treat every reply as a public post about a possible patient, and write it accordingly.

Google's own advice for negative reviews points the same way: never share the reviewer's private information ^[1].

What counts as disclosure

• Confirming the reviewer is a patient: "Thank you for choosing [Practice] for your treatment."
• Denying it: "I have no record of you." This tells readers who is and is not a patient.
• Any treatment, appointment, date, clinician or price, even one the reviewer has already mentioned.
• Anything from the records, including attendance, payments or what was said in the surgery.
• "See you at your next appointment." Friendly, but it confirms a relationship.

A reviewer describing their own treatment does not change this. They can say what they like about themselves. The practice adds nothing and confirms nothing.

Template replies

Replace [Practice], [Name], [phone] and [email] and keep the wording otherwise. Google suggests signing replies with a name or initials, and keeping them short ^[1].

Vary the opening line now and then so replies do not read as automatic, but never add detail about the reviewer or their visit.

When to take it offline

Use the "please contact me directly" reply whenever a review:

• raises a concern about care, cost, communication or an appointment;
• contains something you believe is factually wrong;
• names a member of the team critically;
• would need the records to answer properly.

Let the reviewer get in touch rather than tracing them through patient records to contact them. When they do, the conversation becomes a complaint like any other. The GDC expects you to deal with complaints calmly and constructively and in line with your complaints procedure, and to give the patient a copy of the procedure when you acknowledge the complaint ^[5]. Nothing from that private conversation goes back into the public reply.

If a review breaks Google's policies, you can report it, but Google says not to report a review just because you disagree with it ^[3].

Things not to do

• Do not reply when angry, and do not let the clinician concerned write the reply.
• Do not argue the facts in public, however wrong the review is.
• Do not offer a refund, discount or gesture in the reply.
• Do not post from a personal account or let staff reply on the practice's behalf in their own name.

The review collection and response process sets out who owns replies and how fast they go out, and the audit worksheet checks your current replies against this rule.