Air Carrier Captain reported a communication breakdown between the Captain and Dispatch/Ramp regarding the missing DG and the new Hazmat verification SOP. Ultimately the DG arrived; loaded; complied with DG verification procedure and departed safely.

Narrative

During the pre-flight setup; the crew had received a planned dangerous goods form across the printer for three packages containing dangerous goods. Approaching departure time; the jetway was removed and the cargo doors closed. Ground comes on the headset and advises they are ready for brake release and push-back. Over the headset with the ground person; I inquire about the dangerous goods and advise them we have not received our Final Dangerous Goods form (and therefore have not sent the acknowledgement code). The parking brake remained set. The ground person then advises us that the Dangerous Goods did not make the flight. Not having any documentation to invalidate the Planned Dangerous Goods form in my possession; I initiated a phone call to Dispatch and Load Planning. As the call was being connected; the ground person on the headset advised they had last minute bags (boxes) from Quick Pack that had arrived and wanted to see if it was OK to put them on the flight? I responded for them to put them on the flight and asked if they were the dangerous goods? The response was 'No - Quick Pack; not dangerous goods.' I saw the forward cargo door open and close on my synoptic display. Now on the call with load planning; I explained the situation and load planning agreed that they also show the dangerous goods never made the flight. I thanked them and the call ended.Still puzzled by the situation; I turned to my First Officer (FO) and asked if he saw what they just put on the aircraft? He responded that they put on three boxes and that two of the boxes were placarded with stickers that appeared to Dangerous Goods - Radiation Stickers. The third box was turned away from his vantage point and he couldn't be sure. I called ZZZ Operations and advised them we needed to Ramp Supervisor to [Gate] XX. After a couple of minutes; the Ramp Supervisor then came on the headset and explained to me that we did not have Dangerous Goods on board. I explained that perhaps that was true at one point; but I am specifically asking you to open the forward cargo compartment and advise the status of the last three boxes that were loaded. The forward cargo compartment was opened and after a minute the Ramp Supervisor came on the headset to explain that the information he had originally been given had changed. Simply stated; we did not have dangerous goods on board. At this time; the Ramp Supervisor advised they were going to relocate the dangerous goods shipments to the aft cargo compartment and properly load/secure them with a certain number of bags around the boxes (per their ramp loading instructions). As this was being accomplished; I phoned Person A in Load Planning again to advise him of the changes that had unfolded with the aircraft. Despite having clarity with the dangerous goods; having properly loaded the dangerous goods and all parties knowledgeable with the dangerous goods; we still had to ensure the SOP ACARS processes were complied with. This is where the frustration level escalated. After about a 5-10 minute delay and all parties pressuring me to release the brakes (request denied - brakes set); I phoned Load Planning again to inquire about the status of the Final Dangerous Goods form. Load Planning advised me that ZZZ Ramp not had closed out the flight and therefore the system was unable to send me a Final Dangerous Goods form. With a cell phone in one hand and an inter-phone mic in the other; I coordinated with both groups and determined it was the X component of the ramp close out process that had not been completed. After another couple of minutes; it was fixed and the Final Dangerous Goods message was received. An acknowledgement code entry was made and then our flight departed. The total delay from this process was approximately 30 minutes with another aircraft waiting on our gate. Once the situation was remedied; I am confident that our flight operated in accordance with SOP despite all the inefficiencies.