Terms of Service

Please find below our terms of service.  It summarises the key information that sets out how we provide our service to you.  It is reviewed regularly by our team.

Our aims

Woodside dental practice aims to look after it patients before someone else does and to act in the best interests of its patients.  We strive to create a fun, happy and friendly atmosphere for our patients.  We offer general dental services on the NHS.  Private dental services are also available at the practice.

Customer service

We pride ourselves on providing you with excellent customer service both in person and on the telephone.  We regularly review our procedures to ensure we are offering the best service.

Registration

Registering your details with the practice can be done in person, via email or over the telephone.  We require completion of a medical history form, and we will ask for your name, date of birth, address, and telephone number.  We are unable to provide emergency treatment until you have had an examination appointment to assess your dental health.  All patients, unless specifically requested otherwise, are registered as NHS patients. Due to demand, new patients who fail to attend their first registration appointment will not be offered any further appointments.

Patient charter

Our patient charter sets out our responsibilities to you and identifies your commitment to us to enable delivery of a service that fits your needs.  This includes attending for your appointments in a prompt manner to minimize inconvenience to other patients that follow you.

Emergency treatment

Emergency treatment will be provided for registered patients who are experiencing severe pain, severe bleeding, facial swelling or trauma only.  Patients will be asked to attend the practice immediately for a ‘sit and wait’ appointment.  Patients will be seen as soon as is reasonably practical.  All other situations will be dealt with at the next available appointment.

Appointments

We are a successful practice offering a high quality service.  As such demands on our resources are high.  We aim to offer appointments at the earliest opportunity.  Popular appointment times, such as after school hours and before working hours, are in high demand.  Therefore, we expect you to attend for your appointment promptly and in time to complete any paperwork required.  If you are late for an appointment, we will endeavor to see you but this may involve carrying out less treatment than expected or you having to wait a little longer to be seen.  We reserve the right to reappoint your treatment if we are unable to complete it in time. If the practice is running late, we will endeavor to keep you informed and to provide a solution to minimize any inconvenience if appropriate.

Treatment plans

You will be given a treatment plan that describes the treatment discussed with your dentist and the price of the treatment (unless you are exempt from paying charges).

Referrals to other practices for specialist treatments

Sometimes the treatment that you require will be performed by a dental specialist, for example orthodontic work or complex procedures.  We will refer you to one of these practices who will then carry out the treatment for you.  We send out referrals promptly but cannot be held responsible for the speed of response of the Practice to which you have been referred.

Payments and accounts

Unless exempt, all work carried out, with the exception of your initial examination, carries a charge.  You will be advised of your charges on your treatment plan.  We expect payment prior to treatment.  We accept all major credit and debit cards, cash and cheques.  We can also arrange 0% finance to help you spread the cost of treatment that is £250 or more.  This option is not available to fund NHS treatments.  Where there is an outstanding account, we will contact you to make payment, which can be made over the telephone.  If after a reasonable amount of time your account has not been settled, you will be deregistered from the practice.

Feedback

We can only improve our services to you through patient feedback and we value your comments.  We have feedback slips and a box in reception.  If you wish to raise a concern about the practice, then please speak to a member of the dental team.  A copy of our complaint policy is available on request.

Failing to attend appointments

We reserve the right to levy a refundable £10 deposit for failing to attend your appointment.  This must be paid before any future appointments can be made.  We will endeavor to contact you if you fail to attend an appointment.

Cancelling appointments

If you wish to cancel and rearrange your appointment, please do so with at least 24hrs notice.  This will allow us to reallocate your appointment to another client.

Transferring between dentists

You may request a transfer by completing a transfer form that is available at reception.  Transfer is at the discretion of the dentist.

Data protection and confidentiality

We process all information in line with the data protection act and our confidentially policy.

Interpreters

An interpreter will be arranged wherever possible for clients whose first language is not English.  This is a free service and is provided by a third party provider and we cannot be held responsible for any problems with the service that may be outwith our control.

Deregistration

We reserve the right to deregister patients if we are unable to act in their best interests, there has been a breakdown in communication or trust between the patient and the practice/dentist, the patient acts in an intimidating, threatening or violent manner or the patient has failed to pay for dental treatment provided.

Communication

We may communicate with you via telephone, letter, email or SMS message.  If your contact details change, please let us know.  We will not be held responsible for the accuracy of information held or the integrity of SMS, email or telephone service providers.

SMS reminders

We add value to our services by reminding patients of their appointments and check-ups via SMS reminder.  We accept no liability for the integrity or operation of this system or missed appointments as a result of failure of this system.   It operates as a value added courtesy only.

Staying in touch

We value keeping in touch with you.  We may do this via newsletters, information on our website and via social media. Newsletter will be sent via email.  If you would like to receive practice newsletters then please leave your email address at reception.

Treatment Small Print

Disclaimer

Please be aware that, following treatment there may be some adverse effects and these include but are not limited to: pain, swelling, bruising on face, self-inflicted trauma, trismus, postoperative paraesthesia or neuralgia, allergy or hypersensitivity, pain at injection site and infection.  If you require further details, please discuss with your dentist PRIOR to your treatment.

Dental emergencys

A dental emergency consists of: PAIN, TRAUMA, SWELLING or EXCESSIVE BLEEDING.  During normal working hours, please contact the practicefor advice at the earliest opportunity.  We operate an emergency sit-and-wait system at 9am and 2pm.  For out of hours advice please contact NHS24 on 111.

Working together

At Woodside Dental our aim is to look after our patients before someone else does.  We are committed to providing the highest standard of care for you in a fun, happy and friendly environment.  More information is available on our website at www.woodsidedentalpractice.com

Treatment charges

Your treatment charges are outlined on this plan.  Treatment is provided on the NHS, unless otherwise discussed & agreed with your dentist.  Treatment charges are available on this plan & at reception.  We also offer treatment options privately that are not available on the NHS.  Please ask your dentist for more information.

Treatment on referral

With your agreement, it may be necessary to refer you to another dentist under NHS arrangements, for part of your course of NHS dental treatment. Where this happens you will not be asked to pay a further charge for your NHS dental treatment: only one charge will be made by your referring dentist, as outlined below.

Paying for your treatment

You will be asked about eligibility to pay when you attend for your appointment.  We politely request that all treatment is paid for in advance.  If you wish to spread the cost of private treatment we offer 0% finance.  Please ask one of our team for more information.
If you are have a low income, you may be able to get help with NHS charges.  Please ask us for an HC1 form.  We accept payment in cash, cheque, Visa, Mastercard & PayPal.

Cancelling your appointment

If you wish to cancel your appointment we require 24 hrs noticeso that we may allocte your appointment to someone else.  We may levy a £10 refundable deposit for repeated cancellations & with less notice.

Your information

Your information is maintained in the strictest confidence and in accordance with our obligations under GDPR.

Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our services to you.  If you have a particular concnern, please raise this with a member of our team who will be happy to help.  We have a complaints policy and a terms of service document.  Both these are available on request.

Deregistration

The practice may consider deregistration of a patient where the team feels that we are unable to act in their best interests and meet their expectations regarding their care.

This may include:

  • Where our level of service is unable to meet patient expectations
  • Where patients continue to owe money
  • Where patient behaviour challenges the competency and integrity of treatment and care
  • Where patients repeatedly cancel or fail to attend appointments.
  • If patients are violent or abusive (either physical or verbally) towards other patients or any member of the dental team. This may be perceived or real and may be via face-to-face, telephone or email contact.

If behaviour is particularly abusive or violent we will call the police and obtain an incident number immediately.  This will result in immediate deregistration due to the threat of actual harm.

Further, if a potential patient acts in a threatening or abusive manner, they will not be allowed to register with the practice.

At all times we have a duty of care to our staff to act in accordance with employment law best practice.

Zero Tolerance Policy

Woodside Dental is committed to providing a safe working environment for its team.  We do this by minimising the risk of hostile, aggressive and potentially violent behaviour at work. The working environment is defined as the practice premises and other premises where work is undertaken as part of a person’s official duties including, travelling to and from the other premises.

The Practice takes it very seriously if a member of staff is treated in an aggressive, abusive or violent way.

Woodside supports the government’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ campaign for Health Service Staff, where staff have a right to care for others without fear of being abused or attacked.

To successfully provide you with care, mutual respect between all the staff and patients must exist. This is central to providing care for you.

All our staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances where they are able. They would respectfully remind patients that very often staff could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time and are private individuals as well. Our staff also understand that patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint.

However, aggressive, abusive or violent behaviour will not be tolerated and could result in you being removed from the Practice list and the Police being contacted.

In order for the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all its patients to read and take note of the types of behaviour that would be found unacceptable:

  • Using bad language or swearing at practice staff
  • Behaving in a way that is perceived as aggressive or threatening
  • Being deliberately obstructive either physically or verbally
  • Using physical violence towards any member of our team or other patients, such as pushing or shoving
  • Verbal abuse towards the staff in any form including verbal insults
  • Racial abuse and sexual harassment
  • Persistent or unrealistic demands