Summer 2018

GDPR Compliance

You may have recently been asked to sign some more consent forms at the practice (if you haven’t, don’t worry, you will be soon!). We are updating the way we do things at Long Street Dental to comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Information Governance Regulations. This basically means that we are making your personal information safer and more protected. We will never send your information anywhere without your consent and will never discuss personal details about yourselves unless you consent to us doing so.

Invisalign GO

We now offer a new type of Invisalign at the practice as Dr Flindall has started providing Invisalign GO. The GO system is most suitable for minor crowding or rotated teeth and also perfect for cases where braces have been provided in the past, but the teeth have moved slightly back out of position.

Using 3D computer-imaging technology, you’ll be able to watch how your teeth could move from their current to final position with treatment taking as little as 12 weeks in some cases. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, come and see us for a free 20 minute consultation. We also share before and after pictures on our Facebook page (search #TransformationTuesday) if you want to see what’s possible!

Domiciliary visits

As a practice we’ve had to make the difficult decision to stop providing domiciliary visits for our patients. It is a service we wish we could continue for longer, however a recent change to the regulations and standards for the dental team has made it no longer feasible. A surgery is the ideal place to give and receive dental care, but this isn’t always a practical option. With notice we can arrange for your appointments at Long Street Dental to be provided in the downstairs surgery and we have a ramp for wheelchair users to access the building, however for those who are housebound further home visits can be arranged by contacting the Community Dental Services. To find out more about the Community Dental Service locally, contact NHS England on 0300 311 2233 or the Dental Admin Team at Great Western Hospitals on 0345 758 1926 or gwh.dentaladmin.teamoffice@nhs.net.

Practice improvements

Did you know that we have daily newspapers, magazines and now free Wi-Fi in both waiting rooms. Simply search and connect to the ‘Long Street Dental Guest’ account – no password is required. Over the winter months we also completed a major update to the cooling/ heating system at the practice. All the old air conditioning units have been replaced with new models with the ability to cool and heat. We hope this will make your experience as comfortable as possible – especially in this bizarre weather we’ve been having! #LittleThingsMatter

Missed appointments

In our last newsletter we talked about the very high number of failed and late cancelled appointments that the practice had been experiencing. We have continued to record the appointments over the last 12 months and found the total amount of surgery time missed is just over 256 hours. We ask that we are given 48 hours notice to cancel or change appointments. To avoid the cost of missed appointments being passed onto the rest of our patients, we will continue to charge £30.00 when a private or Denplan patient fails to attend or cancels without reasonable notice and we are unable to fill the time.

The NHS Friends and Family Test

Thank you again to all those patients who completed the NHS Friends & Family Test (FFT) forms. The FFT is a NHS survey that dental practices are required to participate in and we submit all scores and feedback on a monthly basis. We pride ourselves on being a family friendly practice and your feedback has shown our effort makes all the difference to ensure you and your family have the best service.

Meet our new receptionist

We are very pleased to welcome Suzette Payne to the Long Street Dental team. Suzette and her family have just relocated from Hereford and are looking forward to moving into their new home. Suzette is an experienced Dental Receptionist, with knowledge of Denplan having worked at a Denplan Practice in the Hereford area and likes cooking, shopping trips to Bath and walking her dog, Sidney, in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside.