Patient Charter

This Patient Charter serves as a comprehensive overview of our dental practice’s operational philosophy and the clinical standards we uphold for every individual under our care. This document articulates our professional obligations and our unwavering dedication to consistently enhancing the quality of our services.

To ensure we deliver the highest calibre of care, we rely on a collaborative relationship with our patients. Consequently, this Charter also outlines the key responsibilities you hold as a partner in your own oral health journey, ensuring a mutual commitment to excellence and effective treatment outcomes.

• To listen to your dental problems and to give you an explanation of the treatment and a solution to your problem that you can understand.
• To respect your dignity and the choices you make.
• To protect the confidentiality of any information you provide.
• To cooperate with other members of our dental team and other health care colleagues to act in your best interest.
• To follow the latest cross-infection guidelines, ensuring your safety is of prime concern.
• To keep up to date with the latest technologies and treatments available.
• To do all we can to keep to appointment times, as we understand your time is precious.

• To respect our appointment times and let us know as soon as possible if you cannot make an appointment in order that it may be given to someone else.
• To pay for treatment at the end of each visit as requested.
• To follow any advice we may give you after treatment.
• To respect our dental team and reception staff as we respect you as a patient.

Under the NHS contract, if a patient is unable to attend an NHS appointment and fails to notify the Practice, it is no longer possible to charge an FTA fee. However, to prevent the waste of valuable clinical time, every practice has the right to deregister a patient for failing to give sufficient notice (24 hours) or failing to attend an appointment.

Failing to attend two appointments, or failing to give more than 24 hours' notice of cancellation (unless the patient can demonstrate an acceptable reason for the cancellation) on two occasions, will lead to automatic deregistration from the practice. Surgery time is very valuable, and we ask patients to allow the appointment to be offered to another patient by giving us sufficient notice. Please note that FTA fees will continue to be charged for appointments which are for private treatment upgrades.

We treat all complaints in confidence and see them as an opportunity to improve our service. Please ask for the Assistant Practice Manager, or express your concerns in writing addressed to the Assistant Practice Manager. If you would like to discuss your complaint via email, please use This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We hope that you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure. We believe this will provide the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our Practice. But this does not affect your right to approach the local PCT if you feel that you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.

Please note that this practice operates a Zero Tolerance Policy and any patient who commits an act of violence against any member of staff or other patients, or behaves in such a way that any such person fears for their safety. Any such incidents will be reported to the police immediately. The patient's treatment will be terminated, and if applicable, the Primary Care Trust will be informed.