Worthing Practice Policy

  • Please make sure your mobile phone is switched off at all times whilst you are in the practice.
  • Out of courtesy for other patients please can you stop your children from standing on the furniture.
  • Please provide us with at least 24 hours notice if you wish to cancel your appointment. Failure to do so may result in a charge for the missed appointments. If you fail to attend more than two appointments, the practice reserves the right to de register you.
  • There will be a discretionary short notice cancellation/failure to attend charge, this can be approx. £1/min missed.
  • We require hygienist bookings to be paid in advance.
  • Every April our fees may increase.

Complaints Policy

In this practice we take patients complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. This procedure is based on these objectives.

Our aim is to react to complaints in the way that we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We learn from every mistake that we make and we respond to customers concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

  • The person dealing with any complaint about the service we provide is Angela Taylor-Cooke, the practice Complaints Manager.
  • If a person complains on the telephone or at the reception desk, we will listen to their complaint and offer to refer them to the Complaints Manager immediately. If the Complaints Manager is unavailable, the patient will be informed when they will be available and this will be arranged for them. A written record of the complaint will then be made and a copy provided to the patient and the Complaints Manager. If this meeting cannot be arranged within a reasonable time period, or if the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the matter, arrangements will be made for someone else to deal with the patient immediately.
  • Email or complaints in writing will be passed on immediately to the Complaints Manger.
  • If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the dentist concerned, unless the patient does not wish this to happen.
  • We will acknowledge the patients complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within three working days. We will offer to discuss the complaint at an agreed time with the patient and ask the patient how they would like to be kept informed of developments. We will inform the patient how the complaint will be handled and the likely time that the investigation will take to be completed. If the patient does not wish to discuss the complaint we will still inform them of the expected timescale for completion.
  • We will seek to investigate the complaint promptly and efficiently and keep the patient regularly informed, as far as is reasonably practicable, to the progress of the investigation. Investigations will normally be completed within six months.
  • When we have completed the investigation, we will provide the patient with a full written report. The report will include an explanation of how the complaint has been considered, the conclusions reached in respect of each specific part of the complaint, details of any necessary remedial action and whether the practice is satisfied with any action it has already taken or will be taking as a result of the complaint.
  • We are always looking at ways to improve our service and welcome customer feedback at any time throughout the procedure.
  • Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received as well as any actions taken to improve services as a consequence of a complaint.

If patients are not satisfied with the results of our procedure then a complaint may be referred to;

The Dental Complaints Service, NHS ENGLAND, PO BOX 16738, REDDITCH, B97 9PT. Tel: 0300 311 22 33 or www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk for complaints about private treatment.

The General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1M8DQ. The dentist’s registration body.

Patient Payment Policy

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).

Safeguarding

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.

Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy

Policy Statement
This policy applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, Labs and suppliers. Dentalessence strictly prohibits the use of modern slavery and human trafficking in our operations and supply chain.
We have and will continue to be committed to implementing systems and controls aimed at ensuring that modern slavery is not taking place anywhere within our organisation or in any of our supply chains.

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Modern slavery is a term used to encompass slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour, bonded and child labour and human trafficking.

Human trafficking is where a person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person with a view to that person being exploited. Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights.

Commitments
At dentalessence we expect everyone working with us or on our behalf to support and uphold the following measures to safeguard against modern slavery:

  • We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery in our practice and our supply chains.
  • The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our practice or supply chain is the responsibility of all employees. Employees must not engage in, facilitate or fail to report any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of this policy.
  • Consistent with our risk based approach we may require:
  • employment and recruitment agencies and other third parties supplying workers to our organisation to confirm their compliance with our Code of Conduct
  • If we find that other individuals or organisations working on our behalf have breached this policy we will ensure that we take appropriate action. This may range from considering the possibility of breaches being remediated and whether that might represent the best outcome for those individuals impacted by the breach to terminating such relationships.