Terms and Conditions

We are always pleased to assist our patients whenever we can. This document gives details of our terms
and conditions of service. If, however, you have any queries or need clarification, please contact us and a
member of staff will be happy to help you.

Services

We provide NHS and private dental care and our practice philosophy is to promote dental health at all times with an emphasis on preventative care.

It is our practice policy to give patients full information about the options and cost of their dental care before any treatment is undertaken.

Treatment Plan

Once your treatment plan has been agreed with the dentist, we will provide printed details of your plan. If this plan changes due to clinical or other reasons, we will inform you and discuss this with you.

Consent forms

All treatments require completion of a consent form. We will explain the treatment, aftercare and any risk to you thoroughly and invite you to ask questions for clarification and all the necessary time to think. Prior to any treatment and when the proposed treatment is clear and accepted by you, we will ask you to sign the consent form

Fees

Gateway Dental does not operate an account system and we require fees to be settled at each appointment by cash or credit/debit card.

If you find that you have a dental emergency during normal surgery hours you should contact the practice and we will give advice and make arrangements for you to be seen as quickly as possible.

Emergency Appointments

Private

We understand that it is sometimes necessary to change an appointment. If you are unable to attend an appointment we appreciate as much notice as possible so that we may re-allocate the time. Please give the practice at least 48 hours’ notice if you are unable to keep your appointment.

Late Cancellation or Missed Appointments

We may charge for missed private appointments where we have not been notified, or for cancelled appointments with less than 48 hours’ notice

NHS

If you miss or cancel two appointments within 48 hours in a 12 month period we may remove you from our books.

For Dental Hygienist appointments we will charge £25 for missed appointments or cancellations less than 48 hours.

Failed appointments fees must be settled before any other appointment is offered. Please note that unpaid accounts are routinely referred to a Debt Collector Agency or the Small Claims Court and we reserve the right to recover all costs incurred in doing so.

Hygienist Appointments

A hygienist treatment will not dislodge restorations but occasionally for various restorations may come out during the treatment. In the unlikely event of this happening it will be replaced free of charge if done in this practice in the past 12 months. Any older restorations would be at the patient's own cost.

Continuity of Care

The practice follows the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for patient’s recall periods, which are individually designed. As a practice of good management, we inform our patients for their next check up and we send a reminder nearer the time to book their appointment. However, it is patient’s responsibility to keep records for their next check-up. Failure to attend a check up appointment in an 18-month period will result in reviewing future provision of treatment and in case of failure to attend more than 24 months will result in being removed from our patients’ list.

Personal Details

It is very important that you give a full medical history and details of any medication you take. Should these change in any way, it is important you tell the dentist and give current information. Advise us of any changes to your contact details (address, telephone numbers, email) to help us keep our records up to date and ensure that we are able to contact you. Please note that the practice operates paper-less and your contact details (email & mobile telephone) are important to keep you informed about your
appointments and dental care.

Data Protection /Access to your records.

We store all patient personal details on a computer system in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations. All clinical notes, digital radiographs, digital photographs etc. remain the property of Gateway Dental. Copies of notes and radiographs can be made available on your written request and we reserve the right to charge an administration fee for these. The information is not accessible to the public; only authorised members of staff have access to it. 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.

CCTV

The practice operates CCTV system for the purpose of patient and staff safety, staff training and improving quality.

Comments, Compliments, and Complaints

We value your comments and compliments. If your expectations are not met, we have a complaints system that complies with nationally approved criteria. If you want to complain please contact George Billis, the Complaints Manager or for more details and contacts, check our ‘Code of Practice for Patients Complaints’ in Reception and on our website.

Bariatric - Are you over 21 stone / 133KG?

Please note that the average dental treatment unit can only operate safely up to a maximum weight limit of 21 stone (133KG) before risk of serious injury to the patient or staff. If your weight is at this limit or higher, please let our staff know when booking your appointment. Where we are unable to safely treat patients due to their weight, we are able to make arrangements for you to be treated at another NHS facility, which our team will be happy to assist you with.

Violent, Threatening or Abusive Behaviour

We have a ZERO Tolerance Policy to persons who show violent, threatening or abusive behaviour to our staff or other service users. In such cases the treatment / provision of dental care will be terminated and all the relevant authorities (NHS, Police) will be informed.

Deposit Payment Policy

When booking your appointment, we will seek a deposit from you, payment of which is your confirmation of your commitment to attend your appointment Our deposits are normally fully refundable when you notified us at least 48 hours before your appointment. If you fail to attend the deposit is not refundable too. There are occasions that the deposit is not refundable*
Private Treatment</strong
Deposits are set at the following levels:</strong
New Patient Examination: 100% Fee payable
Emergency Appointment: 100% Fee payable
Sedation: 100% Fee payable
Treatments: 50% Fee payable
Dental Hygienist: £25 Fee payable

*Non-refundable deposit

Prosthetics - Impression Stage: When the Impression Stage appointment is completed, the remaining 50% is payable. Thereafter the cost of the treatment is not refundable.
Non-refundable deposit cannot be refunded due to payments being made in advance to suppliers, laboratories and other such parties.
Please note that Saturdays & Sundays will not be included in these time frames so for example, notice to cancel an appointment scheduled for a Monday must be given no later than the preceding Thursday

Full payment required for the treatment needs after the initial assessment/examination.

NHS Treatment