The practice is committed to providing a high standard of treatment and service to its patients. To achieve this goal it is important that treatment fees are collected efficiently.

All patients are provided with a treatment plan and estimate before the treatment commences which has details of the payment terms and the fees payable for treatment.

To avoid unnecessary costs or inefficiency fees are collected before each treatment plan has been completed, with the fees payable as treatment progresses, with the full balance due before the final appointment.

In the eventuality that fees are outstanding at the end of the treatment plan, the balance is collected at the last visit of the course of treatment.

If there are fees outstanding after the last visit, the practice will write to or telephone the patient to request payment. Reasonable steps will be taken to collect outstanding fees before a third party agent is instructed or legal action is initiated. If a third party is instructed to recover an outstanding fee, the third party collection fees will be added to the final owed balance.

If the patient has a complaint about the treatment provided, this is taken very seriously and will be fully taken into account.
The detailed procedure for collecting fees is in Patient Accounts and Debt Management (M 212).

Our Safeguarding Statement:
Dental Essence is committed to complying with legislation and statutory guidance to protect children and adults at risk of abuse or neglect.
Our practice has an effective process for identifying and responding appropriately to signs and allegations of abuse.
The practices have appointed their practice manager as the Practice Safeguarding Lead for children and adults.
All team members are trained to recognise signs of abuse in children and vulnerable adults.