Covid-19 Update

Important New COVID-19 Update - June 2021

Thankfully the COVID restrictions are easing and life appears to be returning to something a bit more like normal. However, dental practices are still working under restrictions and as a result, everything we do takes a lot longer.

It is necessary to leave a longer time between appointments for the surgeries to be cleaned and to maintain social distancing. Any time that we use our ultrasonic scaler or high-speed drill we must leave the surgery for 20 minutes before we can clean it and see further patients.

We must leave a certain amount of time every day to see our patients who have emergencies. We also need to leave space to carry out treatments for our patients who require treatment after an examination.

Because of this, our capacity to see routine examinations is greatly reduced compared to the service were able to provide pre-COVID. Additionally, there is a back-log of patients who were due examinations and we have a situation where some of our patients are becoming increasingly frustrated over our inability to provide routine examinations as we did prior to pandemic.

Up until now we have asked patients to ring the practice at the end of the month when we would release what appointments we had available. We realise that this was not an ideal solution, with some patients continually unable to get through to us on the telephone.

What we will going forward is, if a patient calls seeking an examination appointment and we have no times available, we will take a note of their name and number and will call them as soon as we have examination appointment available.

We will prioritise patients who have been regularly attending our dental practice and those who have not had an examination recently.

Our reception staff are doing their best to deal with the situation yet we are getting a few patients who are becoming abusive when we cannot offer appointments for routine examinations.

Please be assured that we are doing our best to see patients and being unpleasant does not help. Under NHS regulations, we are allowed to deregister patients who are abusive to our staff.

Hopefully we will get back to normal at some stage in the future but for the time being we greatly appreciate your patience.

Your new patient journey

Please be aware that we are still the same friendly team but your journey through the practice will be very different to what you have been used to.

This is in order to make things as safe as possible for everyone:

Only patients with an appointment will be admitted to the practice so please attend alone. Of course, a parent or carer can accompany a child/patient.
Please use the toilet before leaving home as our toilet facilities will remain closed to patients.
Patients should avoid bringing anything with them into the practice, so no books, newspapers or handbags. Basically, just bring whatever is absolutely necessary, as long as you can carry it in your pockets.
We need to reduce the time patients spend in the practice to a minimum so please be on time for your appointment. The practice door will be locked. Upon arrival, either knock on the door or ring our reception and a member of staff will admit you.
They will ask you questions regarding your COVID status and ask you to use the available hand gel. Tissues will be provided if you need to cough or sneeze and please follow the advice of CATCH IT, BIN IT, KILL IT.
If it is necessary for you to sit in the waiting room, please maintain social distancing.
A member of staff will then take you into the surgery. Dentists and nurses will already be wearing full PPE and to reduce the length of time you are in the surgery and they will keep chat to a minimum.
During treatment we will not be able to use high speed drills or ultra-sonic scalers that produce an aerosol spray. Patients will not be permitted to use a mouthwash or the spittoon.
On leaving the surgery, alcohol gel will be available at our reception for you to use. If you need to make a further appointment, please do this with our receptionist by standing behind the acrylic screen. Please note we will not be giving out appointment cards so you will need to take a note of it yourself. If you ensure that we have your current email address, we should send you an email reminder for your appointment.
If payment is required, this can be done via our credit card machine - by contactless for under £45 or by using the keypad. This will be sanitised after each use.
A member of staff will then escort you out of the practice.

YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING IS REALLY APPRECIATED