Our Patient Charter is a statement of how our Dental Practice operates and the standards of care that we apply to all our patients. It defines our responsibilities and the high standards we strive to maintain and improve upon. However, to maintain these standards also requires your co-operation and the Charter therefore also defines your responsibilities to us as a patient.
Any violent or abusive behaviour will result in immediate withdrawal from practice.
Under the new NHS contract, if a patient is unable to attend an NHS appointment and fails to notify the practice, it is no longer possible to charge an FTA fee. However, to prevent the waste of valuable clinical time, every practice has the right to deregister a patient for failing to give sufficient notice (24 hours) or failing to attend an appointment. Patient who are regularly cared for, or NHS patients who are having treatment outside the NHS will be charged for short notice cancellation or missed appointments.
Our policy is as follows:
Failing to attend two appointments, or failing to give more than 24 hours notice of cancellation (unless the patient can demonstrate an acceptable reason for the cancellation) on two occasions, will lead to automatic deregistration from the practice. Surgery time is very valuable and we ask patients to allow the appointment to be offered to another patient by giving us sufficient notice. Please note that FTA fees will continue to be charged for appointments which are for private treatment outside the NHS. FTA for private appointments charge at £1 a minute of appointment length.
We hope you will have no cause for complaint and are happy with the service and care we provide for you. Should you be unhappy with any aspect of your care, please ask for a meeting with the practice manager who will take your concerns seriously and if necessary begin an investigation into your complaint. All feedback is treated in confidence and viewed as an opportunity to improve our service. We believe our practice complaints procedure provides the best opportunity to resolve any problems and assure you that your care and that of your family will not be compromised by bringing your concern to our attention. Should you not be happy with the results of our investigation, you retain the right to approach the ombudsman, details of which are available on request.
We do listen to your feedback and would appreciate your feedback via our online feedback form.
Correct bite issues and prevent remaining teeth from drifting out of position