AcreMedical Services Policies
Here you will find all the practice and patient policies that are related to AcreMedical Services.
Practice Owner
The owner and principal dentist of AcreMedical Services is Dr. Bhavisha Thakrar.
Data Security Policy
Acre Medical Service is committed to ensuring the security of personal data held by the practice.
This objective is achieved by every member of the practice team complying with this policy.
All staff employment contracts contain a confidentiality clause.
Access to personal data is on a “need to know” basis only. Access to information is monitored and
breaches of security will be dealt with swiftly
We have procedures in place to ensure that personal data is regularly reviewed, updated and deleted in
a confidential manner when no longer required. For example,
The retention of clinical records should be sought in line with current guidance and legislation such as –
Clinical records for adults should be retained 11years
Children’s records should be retained for 11 years or until the 25th birthday or 26th if the patient was
17 when treatment ended
Physical security measures
Personal data is only taken away from the practice premises in exceptional circumstances and when
authorised by practice manager. If personal data is taken from the premises it must never be left unattended
in a car or in a public place.
Records are kept in a lockable cabinet, which is not easily accessible by patients and visitors to the
practice.
Efforts have been made to secure the practice against theft by, for example, the use of intruder alarms,
lockable windows and doors.
The practice has in place a business continuity plan in case of a disaster. This includes procedures set
out for protecting and restoring personal data.
Information held on computer
Passwords are only known to those who require access to the information, are changed on a regular
basis and are not written down or kept near or on the computer for others to see
Daily and weekly back-ups of computerised data are taken and stored in a container, off-site.
Back-ups are also tested at prescribed intervals to ensure that the information being stored is usable –
should it be needed
Staff using practice computers will undertake computer training to avoid unintentional deletion or
corruption of information
Dental computer systems all have a full audit trail facility –preventing the erasure or overwriting of
data. The system records details of any amendments made to data, who made them and when
Precautions are taken to avoid loss of data through the introduction of computer viruses.
Making & Cancelling Appointments
We always try to arrange appointments at a time convenient to our patients. For this reason, we have late evening sessions on Mondays. If you have made an appointment which you subsequently find you cannot keep, please give as much notice as possible so we can give the appointment to another patient who may need to see us at short notice. If you give us less than 24 hours’ notice a late cancellation charge from £15 per may be made, and maybe more based on the length of the booked appointment time.
Cancelling Appointments
Please inform us at least 24 hours before the appointment time, if you wish to cancel. If you fail to attend an appointment without notice you will automatically receive a charge of £1 per minute with a maximum charge of £30. Any subsequent appointment will also be removed from your appointment list.
Payment Policy
- It is our practice policy to give patients full information about the cost of their dental work before any treatment is undertaken. An explanation of NHS charges and how we calculate our private fees can be explained by your dentist. If you need more information please contact reception.
- A written estimate and treatment plan will be provided for all dental treatment.
- We offer patients a range of payment options, depending on their needs.
- You may pay for your dental care by cash / credit card /debit card. Patients are also allowed to join any insurance scheme which will cover NHS charges or Private treatment. Currently, we do not accept Denplan scheme. Please ask our receptionist for further information.
- We try to make payment as straightforward as possible
- Payment has to be made either before or on the day of completion of treatment and not the whole course of treatment. A course of treatment may contain more than one appointment. If you have more than one appointment and you have an outstanding account, you will not be seen until the account is paid. We reserve the right to cancel all further appointments if payment is not paid.
- If the account is not paid after 48hours you will incur an administration and a late penalty charge. This will be added on every week until the account is cleared. During this period you will be receiving letters to inform you as to what is happening.
- If you receive more than 2 letters of warning, then you will be deregistered unless full outstanding amount is paid.
REFUNDS
We aim to provide the highest quality of NHS and private dental care and services to our patients. Occasionally, however, patients are not happy with the result or the treatment may need to be redone.
We therefore make the following refunds for treatments:
- A crown, bridge or veneer needing to be replaced within a year of placement, a full refund will be given.
- If the patient is still dissatisfied with a denture after necessary adjustments have been made a full refund will be made on the condition that the dentures are returned to the practice.
Emergency Appointments
If you find that you have a dental emergency during normal surgery hours you should contact the practice for advice. We will make arrangements for you to be seen as quickly as possible. If the emergency occurs when the practice is closed, details of who to call will be given by the answer machine. We will ensure that, where appropriate, you are seen as quickly as possible.
I will of course do my best to provide you with a high standard of dental care and service. If you feel that you have cause for complaint, I would encourage you to raise it with Practice Management. We have a complaints procedure which aims to resolve any problems to our patients’ complete satisfaction.
I hope that you are pleased with the dental care and service which we will provide for you. If you have any queries about the content of this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
In our practice we will
- Justify the trust our patients have placed in us
- Listen to patients’ views and learn from them
- Communicate with patients in a courteous, friendly, professional manner
- Provide patients with the standard of care that we would expect to receive ourselves
- Make sure that patients receive full information about our services, their treatment and its cost
- Provide advice and treatment outside normal surgery hours where necessary
- Stand by the promises we make
- Refer patients for further professional advice and treatment where appropriate
- Are committed to ensuring that we keep our professional skills and knowledge up-to-date
In our practice we will
- At all times respect our patients’ confidentiality
- Ensure that patients should have to wait no longer than 15 minutes to be seen
- Manage our appointments system so that treatment appointments are booked no more than 4 weeks ahead
- Deal with every telephone call promptly – callers will not be asked to ‘hold’ without first finding out why the call has been made
- Deal with correspondence within five days of receipt
- Provide patients with a treatment plan and estimate of costs for each new course of treatment. No treatment will be undertaken without the patient’s full and specific consent
- Make patients aware of our policy for collecting fees. Requests for payment will always be made courteously
- Make the practice policy for dealing with complaints known to patients. All complaints will be treated sympathetically and according to the agreed procedures.
- Provide the highest standards of infection control
- Provide any emergency treatment required during practice hours as soon as is reasonably practicable. Out of hours, an emergency rota will operate and details will be displayed at the entrance to the practice and recorded on the telephone answering machine. This information will be correct at all times.
In return, we would like you to
- Participate in your dental treatment, particularly any advice about prevention and diet that we have asked you to continue at home
- Arrive on time for your appointment. Please give the practice at least 24 hours notice if you are unable to keep your appointment. [We may charge for missed appointments where we have not been notified, we may need to review future provision of treatment for you at the practice]
- Treat our staff courteously; they will do their best to help meet your needs