Code of Practice
"They do not do unnecessary treatments but always operate on the 'if it ain't broken don't fix it' and 'try to preserve the tooth as much as possible' premise. "
★★★★★
Y.D.
As seen on Google Reviews
About NHS Dentist
NHS Dentist is one of the largest single dental contract holders in central London, caring for people with a wide range of dental health needs.
Our Values
Trust: We aim to earn our patients’ trust with the high quality care and respect which we demonstrate. We place a great deal of emphasis on continuous professional development to enable us to completely satisfy the patient’s needs.
Our Practice Policy
This is a brief description of what this practice has done since we opened and what it will continue to do for the good of its patients.
1. Responsibilities
We aim to provide care that is consistent. We work to a system which is based on defining our goals and then training staff to take responsibility for their own role whilst assisting their colleagues in theirs.
2. Clinical Decision Making
We examine you, then propose a course of treatment. We discuss it with you and allow for your individual needs and wishes. No treatment is compulsory. We explain the written treatment plan to you. We encourage questions.
3. Protecting General Health
We ask you to complete a medical questionnaire when you first come to see us and every year after that. We also ask that you tell us if your general health alters in any way. We need to know this as it may affect the type of treatment or medicines we give you. This information is kept confidentially. We ask you to give us details of your smoking and drinking habits, this is to help us assess your risk of getting oral cancer. We screen you for oral cancer when you have your routine checkup.
4. Infection Control
Cross infection control is essential in a medical environment. Every member of staff is trained to understand the importance of contamination control and in line with HTM-01-05 guidance.
5. Internal Communications
This practice has regular general staff meetings, dentists, nurses, reception and hygienists meetings. The Principal and Practice Manager attend and agendas are prepared and minutes written. All members of staff are encouraged to add items to the agendas. All new developments are discussed at staff meetings before decisions are made and suggestions from staff are incorporated into new procedures, policies and employment practices.
6. Patient Feedback
We make it a practice to talk to our patients at reception and in the surgeries. We listen to their comments, both bad and good and welcome suggestions as to how to improve our service. We have a comments book freely available at reception and we have patient surveys twice a year, the results of which are publicly displayed in reception. Complaints are answered in writing usually within two days and we ask all members of staff involved in a complaint to be part of the team, which answers the complaint. Lessons are learnt and apologies given where we feel we have let a patient down.
7. Continuing Professional Development
This practice volunteered to register for Lifelong Learning before it became compulsory. Our dentists and hygienists continue to attend courses on new developments and we have a consistently high training record.
8. Training and CPD Generally
All staff are trained in confidentiality, data protection, cross-infection control, radiation, crash procedures, first aid, fire, practice security, health and safety, equal opportunities, in addition to numerous protocols. We hold annual performance/training reviews with all staff. All staff are encouraged to go to college to obtain qualifications. We have sponsored our nurses to do so.
Where any failure in the system is identified, a review will take place to ensure a recurrence does not take place.
Patients Complaints Procedure
At NHS Dentist, 355 North End Road, London SW6 1NW
Complaints are taken seriously and we train our staff to deal with complaints courteously. We will expect patients to make their complaint without insults or threats. Our aim is to restore your faith in the practice and to ensure you are happy with the outcome of your complaint.
In the first instance, please call us to speak to the person responsible for complaints Ms Chloe Wright. She will try to find a solution to any concern you may have. If we are busy to take your phone call, do not hesitate to e-mail us a request for a call back, to info@nhsdentist.com. We will endeavour to call you back as soon as we can.
We try to handle complaints in house with a face to face meeting. Should your concern be a clinical matter, we often offer an appointment with another dentist or our principal dentist so you can discuss the matter with a third party or one of the most senior people at the practice. We find this frequently provides patients the information or reassurance that they need. Should we be unable to settle your complaint in this way, then you may want to put your complaint in writing to our Customer Service manager, Chloe Wright who will then follow the formal complaints procedure route.
We will try to establish what you expect as an outcome of your complaint and we will agree a plan of action. Your care and treatment will not be compromised because you have made a complaint. If at any stage you feel concerned about this, please let us know.
If the complaint is received from the outset in writing, we will acknowledge your letter within three working days. We will endeavour to investigate the problem and write back to you within an agreed time frame, allowing for holiday periods and sickness. If the complaint takes longer to resolve, for any reason, we will keep you informed of progress to date and the reason for the delay. As mentioned above, we try and have a face to face meeting at the initial stage to establish the desired outcome of the complaint. We will contact you for such a meeting. In the event of you declining this, we will carry on according to the procedure without an initial meeting.
During the agreed period (or after the face to face meeting if appropriate), all parties involved in the complaint will be interviewed by the Complaints Manager. The notes, x-rays and any other information will be read and evaluated. The Complaints Manager will discuss the whole matter with any parties concerned and with the Principal dentist. You should be aware that we may need to disclose information about you to third parties in the event of a complaint e.g. solicitors, specialists, NHS England, medical indemnity organisation, etc.
Records are kept of any complaint. We monitor the reasons for complaints and we discuss them at staff meetings so we can learn from our mistakes. We also arrange training for any area of our work that we feel has been shown to need reinforcement following our regular complaints analysis e.g. understanding patient concerns.
Our complaints procedure is based on the National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009. Please follow our procedure in its entirety and if then you are dissatisfied with our response a complaint may be made to:-
-
You can get help from PALS to make a complaint. www.pals.nhs.uk
-
You can also engage with POhWER, who are an independent charity providing NHS Complaints advocacy www.pohwer.net
-
NHS England Complaints Team, NHS England, Southside 4th Floor, 105 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QT (if you chose not to give the practice the opportunity to resolve your complaint, as you cannot complain to both the practice and NHS England)
-
Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman at Millbank Tower, Millbank. London, SW1P 4QP.
-
You can write to the CQC at Finsbury Tower, 103-105 Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TG
All dentists, therapists, hygienists and qualified dental nurses are regulated by the General Dental Council.