If you arrive late for your appointment please understand that we may not be able to accommodate you on the day. Lateness has a knock on effect to subsequent appointments and could result in the compromised experience of others using our services. If you arrive late for your appointment we may respectfully ask you to rebook.

Part of our customer care charter is to provide excellence – this must be reflected in our care and thoroughness. Such an ethos will be compromised if we routinely try to accommodate late attendance as all subsequent patient appointments will be shortened. Whereas we will do all within our power to accommodate you, please be mindful that we may be left with little option but to rebook you.

If you find that you are unable to attend an appointment that you have booked with us, please let us know as soon as possible so that this appointment can be made available to someone else.

- For routine appointments with your regular dentist or appointments with our hygienists we require at least 48 hours notice.

- For appointments on referral to a specialist or a practitioner with a special interest, we require at least 5 days notice.

In all cases a poor attendance history could result in the practice not being able to accept future bookings with you.

We also understand that there are times when extenuating circumstances will prevent you from cancelling your appointment within the minimum time period. These instances will of course be considered.

In the event that we need to cancel an appointment that you have booked with us, we will inform you as soon as possible. It is important that you keep the practice informed of any change in your contact details including mobile phone numbers and e-mail address.

The practice will contact you using one or more of the contact methods that you have supplied us with:

- Telephone; either land line or mobile

- SMS message

- E-mail

- Letter

If the person with whom you have an appointment is not able to provide prior notice of an absence the practice will contact you as soon as possible. The practice will endeavour to accommodate you with another dentist or hygienist where possible or offer to rebook at the earliest mutually suitable time.

We offer a number of payment methods to accommodate all.

Payment can be taken via:

- Mastercard

- Visa

- Maestro

- Cash

We are committed to offering after-hours care where necessary.

Denplan Patients with Full Supplementary Insurance only pay £20. You must be a Denplan Patient of the Practice to benefit from this. We operate this service on Weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, between 9am -11am. Our callout fee is from £210

For Our On Call Service, please call our Practice as normal on 01284 754814 between the hours of 9am-11am on Weekends.​

By calling, you will hear our recorded message which will guide you through our Emergency Call Out services and how to best Contact our Dentists, or the next steps you can take.

We take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all of our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When complaints are received, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. We aim to react to complaints in a way in which we would want our own complaints to be handled and respond in a caring and sensitive way.

- The person responsible for dealing with any complaints about our service is the Practice Manager.

- If a complaint is received via a phone call, we will listen to the complaint and offer to refer the patient to our Practice Manager immediately. If the Practice Manager is not available at the time, the patient will be informed of when they will be connected with the Practice Manager and arrangements for this will be made. The member of staff on the phone will collect brief details of the complaint and pass them on to the Practice Manager. If this cannot be arranged within a reasonable time or the patient does not wish to wait, arrangement will be made to speak with someone else.

- If a complaint is received in writing or via email, it will be immediately passed onto the Practice Manager. The written complaint will be acknowledged in writing and with an enclosed copy of this code of practice within 3 working days.

- If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the concerned dentist, unless the patient requests otherwise.

- We will seek to investigate all complaints within 10 working days of receipt to provide an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint. If the patient does not wish to meet us, then we will attempt to talk to them via phone. If an investigation is not possible within 10 working days, the patient will be notified with reasons for the delay and an estimated period within which the investigation will be completed.

Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received as well as any actions taken to improve services as a result of the complaint.

If patients are not satisfied with the result of our procedure, a complaint can be made to the following authorities:

• The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Telephone: 0345 015 4033 www.ombudsman.org.uk

• The Dental Complaints Service, The Lansdowne Building, 2 Lansdowne Road, Croydon, Greater London, CR9 2ER. Telephone: 08456 120 540 www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk

• The General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London. W1N 8DQ. Telephone: 0845 222 4141, the dentists’ regulatory body for complaints about professional misconduct