Patient Policies - Dynasty Dental Suite
New Patient Acceptance Policy
We accept all fee-paying patients on a private basis.
The practice does not refuse to treat anyone on the grounds of:
- Race
- Religion
- Gender
- Sex
- Age
- Sexual orientation
- Appearance
- Disability
- Medical or Dental condition
In subsequent appointments, you will be offered the first available dentist unless you request a
particular dentist, we will try our best to accommodate you.
Complaints Policy
If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the dentist or any of the staff working at this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.
How to complain
We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we will respond to your complaint within three working days, enabling us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem.
Complaints should be addressed to Tanya Womersley – Complaints Manager. You may ask for an appointment in order to discuss your concerns. We will explain the complaints procedure to you and will ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
What shall we do:
We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to investigate your complaint within 20 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we investigate your complaint, we shall aim to:
Find out what happened and what went wrong
Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
Make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again
Should a patient make a complaint or claim, we may need to provide information about the patient, and treatment they have received, to insurers, indemnifiers or legal advisers.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of clinical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of physical and mental illness) of providing this.
Complaining to Dental Complaints Service
We hope that, if you have a problem, you will make use of our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will provide the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However, this does not affect your right to complain to an independent body, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.
For further advice, you should contact:
Dental Complaints Service,37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ
Telephone: 020 8253 0800
(Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm)
Or
General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ
Email: www.gdc-uk.org
Telephone: 0845 222 4141 or 020 7887 3800
Complaints and the CQC
The CQC don’t get directly involved with complaints made to the practice. They do, however, encourage giving feedback for service providers.
To send feedback to the CQC about please go to:
https://www.cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care
or Telephone: 03000 616161 Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm Excluding bank holidays
Privacy notice for Children
What type of information do we hold?
Personal details such as your address, date of birth, phone number and email address – This is for the provision of dental health care, providing treatment plans and recalls.
Personal details of family members or emergency contact details
Medical history including your GP’s name and address
Information about the treatment we have proposed and provided
Notes of conversations or incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept
Correspondence to other healthcare professions such as referrals
Why do we need to keep this information?
We need to keep records of personal information regarding our patients in order to provide safe and appropriate dental care and treatment. It is also used to maintain accurate treatment records.
What do we do with your Information?
We will only share your personal information to another dentist or doctor, such as for an orthodontic referral. We will not share your personal information to anyone else unless needed for legal reasons.
How do we store your Information?
Your Information is stored securely at the practice on protected computer systems. Computer information is backed up regularly and may be securely stored away from our premises.
Retention periods
For children – we will retain your dental records for 11 years or until they reach the age of 25 (whichever is longer).
Concerns
If you have any concerns about how we use your information and you do not feel able to discuss it with your dentist or anyone at the practice, you can contact our Data Protection Officer via email at dynastydentalsuite@gmail.com
You can also seek advice from The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or start a live chat or call helpline on 0303 123 1113.
Cancellations, Failed and Missed Appointments Policy
We aim to provide all of our patients with the best possible service and to achieve this we need your cooperation. It is inevitable that sometimes you may need to cancel or rearrange your dental appointments.
We would ask patients to give as much notice as possible when cancelling an appointment so we have the opportunity to offer it to someone else although we do understand that during an emergency this is not always possible. Non-attendance and cancellations at short notice without a valid reason deprive other patients of our services.
Appointments are often wasted as people do not attend. Over 4 appointments per month are being
wasted. These appointments could have been used by other patients.
A deposit is taken upon booking appointments, this is used to cover any missed or late cancelled
appointments (24hours)
An appointment is considered to have been broken if any of the following occur:
- the patient fails to show up for the appointment
- the patient appears more than 20 minutes late for a scheduled appointment, or
- the patient calls to cancel an appointment with too little advance notice to allow that
appointment time to be rescheduled with another patient (24 hours will be considered to be
the minimum time necessary to avoid a broken appointment).
Patients who wish to cancel dental appointments must do so a minimum of 24 hours in advance of
their scheduled appointment. If less notice is given without a valid excuse, the appointment will be
considered to have been broken.
Cold Sore Policy
Cold sores are common for many people in the UK. Like all viruses, they are contagious and pose a risk to others. The herpes simplex virus is spread through contact.
Cold sores usually emerge as a small ulcer-like patch on or surrounding the lip line, they can come up in a matter of hours and usually take between seven days and four weeks to heal, depending on the severity. From the time they begin to emerge to the point at which they are fully healed, they pose a contagion risk.
At Dynasty Dental Suite we ask patients that if they have had a cold sore for less than 2 weeks, please reschedule any non-emergency dental treatment or hygienist appointments until after this contagious period has passed. This is not only because of the high risk of spreading the virus but also because your lips may feel sore and could crack or bleed during treatment.
If urgent dental treatment is required (you are in pain and need immediate attention), our dentists will request that your cold sore be protected with a cold sore plaster to minimise the risk of cross- infection during emergency dental treatment.
Patient Involvement Policy
We actively involve all our patients in every aspect of their dental care and as a practice, we aim to
carry out the following;
- To ensure discussions take place in an environment where conversations are not overheard,
and every effort is made to ensure the patient feels comfortable and relaxed. - To identify whether communication aids are required, including the use of interpreters, to
ensure that the patient fully understands explanations and discussions and can make
informed choices. - To identify patient treatment needs and treatment options, identifying also what they can do
to manage their care. - To discuss all care and treatment options, providing enough information on any risks involved
and potential consequences of each option and, where possible, identifying relevant
evidence, research, or experience. - To record discussions in the patient’s notes identifying the treatment needs, options
discussed and patient’s choice. - To record the reason for and outcome of diagnostic tests and assessments are explained to
the patient. These include, for example, radiographs, vitality tests, periodontal indices, and
pathology tests. - To ensure all staff at the practice understand the principles of patient confidentiality and
routinely follow the practice procedure for ensuring confidentiality of patient information.
Code of Good Practice Policy
At Dynasty Dental Suite we listen to patients’ views and learn from them. We communicate with
patients in a courteous, friendly, professional manner.
Patients are provided with the standard of care that we would expect to receive ourselves and we
make sure that patients receive full information about our services, their treatment and its cost.
We may refer patients for further professional advice and treatment where appropriate and we are
committed to ensuring that we keep our professional skills and knowledge up to date.
In our practice, we will:
- Respect our patients’ confidentiality
- Aim to ensure that patients should have to wait no longer than 20 minutes to be seen.
- Manage our appointment system so that treatment appointments are booked no more than 2
weeks ahead - Deal with every telephone call promptly – callers will not be asked to ‘hold’ without first
finding out why the call has been made - Deal with correspondence within 3 days of receipt
- Provide patients with a treatment plan and estimate of costs for each new course of
treatment. Full and specific consent will be gained. - Make patients aware of our policy for collecting fees. Requests for payment will always be
made courteously - Make the practice policy for dealing with complaints known to patients. All complaints will be
treated sympathetically and according to the agreed procedures. - Provide the highest standards of infection control
- Provide any emergency treatment required during practice hours as soon as is reasonably
practicable.
Practice Payment & Charges Policy
It is the responsibility of this practice to give patients full information about the cost of their dental
care before any treatment is undertaken.
A list of common treatment charges is available at reception for treatments that are provided
privately.
We will ensure that all patients:
- Are advised of what they must pay, when they should pay and how they can pay (e.g. cheque,
cash, card, direct transfer) - Know what they will receive for their payment (i.e. what treatment or care)
- Understand their treatment is provided privately
- Are given a written estimate and treatment plan on request or where treatment involves more
than routine preventive examination and hygiene care - Understand their own responsibilities in terms of payment terms and how to avoid any
penalty for overdue fees (missed appointment charges, late payment etc) - Are not pressured into signing agreements or paying fees
- Obtain a receipt for any payments they make and can review their account details
- Can talk to a staff member who can explain clearly what payments are due and what they are
for - Can discuss with staff what treatment options and costs are available
- Are given an estimate where a precise cost cannot be determined in advance (e.g. laboratory
work) and will receive timely advice of any additional costs where appropriate
We try to make payment as straightforward as possible.
Payment & Refund Policy
All major debit and credit cards are accepted.
Change of Details
will mean that we are not able to provide you with essential information and updates.
Cancellation of Courses of Treatment
If, for any reason, a course of treatment is cancelled, then we will make every reasonable effort to
give the patient as much notice as possible. Dynasty Dental Suite’s maximum liability will be limited
to a refund of the advance payment fee ONLY. Refunds will be made by the method in which the
treatment booking was paid. We will not accept liability for any additional costs or losses incurred
by a patient or organisations, which are claimed to have arisen through treatment cancellation. We
reserve the right to vary arrangements for the delivery of a treatment plan and in such cases will
make reasonable efforts to inform patients in advance.
Cancellation by the Patient
You may cancel a course of treatment for which you have booked an appointment and be fully
refunded all fees for treatment not yet performed; provided you give the practice a minimum of 24
hours prior notice.
If 24 hours prior notice is not received, we reserve the right to withhold a proportionate amount of
money, based upon the length of the appointment, to cover overheads.
We will refund the money to patients who wish to discontinue treatment at any time. A notice
period of 14 days is required upon which they will be eligible for a refund of any amount paid for
treatment that they did not receive.
If a patient is receiving any treatment that involves laboratory work and initial work has been
carried out; i.e. if the patient is having crowns/bridges or a denture made, and the work has already
been started or completed by the laboratory, a proportion of the fee taken on the preparation
appointment will be kept to cover the cost of the laboratory invoice.
If you have paid for services not yet provided, that do not involve a laboratory fee, we will either
credit your account or refund the transaction paid by the method by which the original payment
was made. If the method was cash and you are unable to collect the refund in person, it will be
posted to you in the form of a cheque.
Bad Debt Policy
paid in full prior to the completion of treatment.
It is the discretion of the treating dentist as to whether the full payment is required before the start
of treatment. Payments can be made by cash or by debit card. Credit card payments will also be
accepted.
Card payments can be taken over the phone. If for whatever reason the fees are not paid, the
practice will inform the patient via a text message/letter or email that there is money outstanding
on their account and to refer to our payment policy.
is not paid within a seven-day period. If there has been no contact or payment within the next
seven-day period then a third text message will be sent warning of losing the right to be seen at the
practice with immediate effect.
If payment is not made within a further 24 hours, we will use a debt recovery company to recover
the debt outstanding.
Zero Tolerance Policy
forms of aggression.
Unacceptable behaviour which will not be tolerated within the dental practice includes:
- Actual or threatened physical violence on staff or other patients.
- Psychological abuse of staff
- Verbal abuse which includes shouting or swearing
- Racial abuse
- Sexual harassment or abuse
- Threats against practice personnel which occur in the workplace
- Theft or damage of practice property
- Taking drugs or alcohol on the premises
practice premises, the practice retains the right to have the patient removed from their list. In
extreme cases, the police may also be contacted.
All incidents must be reported to Tanya Womersley and recorded within the Significant Events Log.
Any injuries will be recorded in the accident book