Lutterworth Dental Practice 29 George Street • Lutterworth • Leicestershire• LE17 4EQ Tel: 01455 554291 • Email: lutterworthdental@gmail.com
A guide to our dental services for new and existing patients
Welcome to Lutterworth Dental Practice.
This leaflet contains information about the services we provide, how to make an appointment and who to contact for further information or assistance.
You can check one of the following sections to find the information you need:
• The dental team
• Services available
• Appointments
• Practice opening hours
• Urgent and out of hours care
• Your rights and responsibilities
• Useful contacts
• Complaints Policy
• Data Protection
The dental team
At Lutterworth Dental Practice, our dentists, dental nurses and reception staff will always aim to provide a high standard of care and service for patients. The members of our dental team are:
Dentists:
Dr Sukhjit Singh Lidder, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, University of Liverpool 2009 Dr Shaminder Chahal-‐Lidder, Bachelor of Dental Surgery (Hons) and a Clinical Distinction, University of Birmingham 2008, MJDF (RCS,ENG)
Dr Rachel Owen, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, University of Manchester, 2014
Dr Deepti Cherukupalli, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Oxford Dental College &
Hospital, Bangalore, 2007 Therapists/Hygienists:
Miss Jessica Gadher, BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy, University of Birmingham, 2012
Miss Kiran Basra, BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy, University of Portsmouth, 2013
Miss Chandni Patel, BSc Oral Health Science, University of Manchester, 2013
Miss Amy Knight, Graduate Diploma in Dental Therapy and Dental Hygiene, University of Leeds, 2014
Our practice is fully accessible for disabled patients.
Services available
We have agreed with NHS England (Leicestershire and Lincolnshire Area) to provide NHS services for patients. NHS dental treatment includes all treatment necessary to secure and maintain your oral health A thorough examination of your teeth and gums, scale and polish, fillings, route canal treatment, extractions, periodontal, crowns, bridges, dentures and regular x rays.
Private treatment options for patients include cosmetic dentistry and tooth whitening.
We are also accepting patients on Denplan, which is a monthly payment plan. For further information please ask at reception.
The poster in our waiting room has information about the cost of NHS treatment.
Your dentist will advise you of the cost of any private treatment.
Private treatment leaflets are available from reception.
Specialist services
We offer dental implants.
We offer two orthodontic treatment systems; Fastbraces and Inman Aligner.
Your dentist will provide you with further information if required.
We can also refer you to another dentist if you require complex or specialist treatment.
Appointments
Making an Appointment
If you ask us for an appointment, we will try to offer you one as soon as possible at a convenient time. You can make an appointment by phoning 01 455 554291.
You can choose which dentist you would like to see at the practice, including your regular dentist, but please note that this will depend on the appointments available.
Reminders and recalls
At the end of your course of treatment, your dentist will discuss with you when you will need to see a dentist again. NHS dentists now follow guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). This means you will attend as often as is needed to keep your teeth and gums healthy and may no longer need a check-‐up every six months.
Cancellations
If you are unable to keep your appointment please let us know as soon as possible, so that we can give the appointment to someone else. Missed appointments waste NHS time. If you miss more than 2 appointments and give less that 24 hours notice, we may not be able to complete your treatment or offer NHS care in the future.
Opening hours
The practice is open Monday to Friday 9.00-‐ 1.00pm and 2.00pm -‐5.00 pm
Urgent treatment and out of hours care
Urgent treatment means treatment that the dentist considers necessary to relieve severe pain or prevent your oral condition deteriorating before you can make a normal appointment.
If you need urgent treatment outside of the opening hours you can telephone 111 The dental out of hours service will be available at the following times:
·∙ Monday to Friday 6.30 pm to 8.00 am Weekends and Bank Holidays
This service is provided by Leicestershire County and Rutland Community Health Services, Communications Centre.
We can also offer a small number of appointments during practice opening hours for patients who need urgent treatment, but do not have an appointment. If you think you need urgent treatment telephone 01455 554291.
Your rights and responsibilities You are entitled to:
ü A thorough examination of your mouth, teeth and gums ü A full explanation of your treatment options
ü A written treatment plan (including costs)
ü Information about NHS charges displayed in the waiting room ü Advice on how to keep your teeth and gums healthy
ü Information about this practice and the services available
ü A care and treatment summary if you decide to transfer to another dentist ü Make a complaint if you are not happy with your treatment and care You are responsible for
ü Giving at least 24 hours if you have to cancel or change an appointment.
ü We will not charge you for missed appointments -‐ but if you miss more than 2 appointments we may no longer be able to offer you treatment
ü Following your dentist’s advice to prevent tooth decay and gum disease ü Paying your bill promptly
ü Bringing proof of entitlement when claiming help with the cost of NHS treatment. If no proof is shown your eligibility will be checked
ü Treating our staff with courtesy and respect
Please note: we may refuse to treat patients who are violent, fail to pay their bills or refuse to co-‐operate during treatment. In this case we will inform NHS England immediately.
Your dental records
Your dental records will remain confidential and secure. However, from time to time we may need to release these to NHS England, or the NHS Business Services Authority as part of our ongoing clinical review process.
About our service
If you would like to comment about any aspect of our service please contact our reception staff or practice manager on 01455 554291. If you would like to make a suggestion please place this in the suggestion box in the waiting room.
If you are not happy with the response you receive from us you are entitled to raise this in writing with the NHS Commissioning Board or the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Further details on our complaints policy are available in this leaflet.
Patients found to have incorrectly claimed help with the cost of NHS dental treatment may receive a penalty charge.
Useful contacts
• NHS England, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire
• NHS Direct -‐ visit www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk or telephone 0845 4647
• Care Quality Commission
If you have any questions about registration or you need more information you can:
Look at the website www.cqc.org.uk/registration
Call the national contact centre on 03000 616161
Email enquiries to enquiries@cqc.org.uk Write to us at: Care Quality Commission
National Correspondence Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 4PA
• NHS Counter Fraud Service
If you have a suspicion of fraud taking place within the NHS please contact our Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line on 0800 028 40 60 (Monday to Friday 8am -‐ 6pm)
POLICY FOR HANDLING PATIENT COMPLAINTS
In this practice, we take complaints very seriously indeed and try to ensure that all 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 in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We learn from every mistake that we make and we respond to patients’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way.
1. The person responsible for dealing with any complaint about the service we provide is : Dr S Chahal.
2. If a patient complains on the telephone or at the reception desk, we will listen to his or her complaint and offer to refer him or her to the dentist concerned immediately.
3. If the dentist is not available at the time, then the patient will be told when he or she will be able to talk to the dentist and arrangements will be made for this to happen. The member of staff will take brief details of the complaint and pass them on.
If we cannot arrange this within a reasonable period or if the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the matter with the dentist then the patient will be referred to the practice manager Dr. Chahal.
If the complaint involves Dr. Chahal then this will be referred to Dr. Lidder.
4. If the patient complains in writing the letter will be passed on immediately to Dr. S.
Chahal
5. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges, it will normally be referred to the dentist, unless the patient does not want this to happen.
6. We will acknowledge the patients’ complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within five working days.
We will seek to investigate the complaint within ten working days of the complaint being received to give 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 him or her on the telephone. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within ten working days, we will notify the patient, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.
7. We will confirm the decision about the complaint in writing to the patient immediately after completing our investigation.
8. Proper and comprehensive reports are kept of any complaint received.
9. If patients are not satisfied with the result of our procedure then a complaint may be passed on to :
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Millbank Tower
Millbank London SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 0154033
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Where a patient wishes to make a formal complaint provided they have not pursued the issue with their practice they can contact the central Customer Contact Centre for NHS England at:
NHS Commissioning Board PO Box 16738
Redditch B97 9PT
Tel: 0300 3112233
Email: nhscommissioningboard@hscic.gov.uk
However, where a patient has tried to resolve their issue with the practice and are not happy with the outcome, they should follow the Ombudsman process.
PRACTICE DATA PROTECTION CODE OF PRACTICE for patients
KEEPING YOUR RECORDS
This practice complies with the 1998 Data Protection Act and this policy describes our procedures for ensuring that personal information about patients is processed fairly and lawfully.
What personal data do we hold?
In order to provide you with a high standard of dental care and attention, we need to hold personal information about you. This personal data comprises:
• your past and current medical and dental condition; personal details such as your age, national insurance number/NHS number, address, telephone number and your general medical practitioner
• radiographs, clinical photographs and study models
• information about the treatment that we have provided or propose to provide and its cost
• notes of conversations/incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept
• records of consent to treatment
• any correspondence relating to you with other health care professionals, for example in the hospital or community services.
Why do we hold information about you?
We need to keep comprehensive and accurate personal data about our patients in order to provide them with safe and appropriate dental care. We also need to process personal data about you in order to provide care under NHS arrangements and to ensure the proper management and administration of the NHS.
How we process the data
We will process personal data that we hold about you in the following way:
Retaining information
We will retain your dental records while you are a practice patient and after you cease to be a patient, for at least eleven years or for children until age 25, whichever is the longer.
Security of information
Personal data about you is held in the practice’s computer system and/or in a manual filing
system. The information is not accessible to the public and only authorised members of staff
have access to it. Our computer system has secure audit trails and we back up information routinely.
Disclosure of information
In order to provide proper and safe dental care, we may need to disclose personal information about you to:
• your general medical practitioner
• the hospital or community dental services
• other health professionals caring for you
• NHS payment authorities
• the Inland Revenue
• the Benefits Agency, where you are claiming exemption or remission from NHS charges
• private dental schemes of which you are a member.
Disclosure will take place on a ‘need-‐to-‐know’ basis, so that only those individuals/
organisations who need to know in order to provide care to you and for the proper
administration of Government (whose personnel are covered by strict confidentiality rules) will be given the information. Only that information that the recipient needs to know will be disclosed.
In very limited circumstances or when required by law or a court order, personal data may have to be disclosed to a third party not connected with your health care. In all other
situations, disclosure that is not covered by this Code of Practice will only occur when we have your specific consent.
Where possible you will be informed of these requests for disclosure.
Access
You have the right of access to the data that we hold about you and to receive a copy. Access may be obtained by making a request in writing and the payment of a fee for access of up to
£10 (for records held on computer) or £50 (for those held manually or for computer-‐held
records with non-‐computer radiographs). We will provide a copy of the record within 40 days of
receipt of the request and fee (where payable) and an explanation of your record should you require it.
If you do not agree
