News - Page 2 of 6 - Diamond Court Dental Practice

Due to the current increase in COVID-19 cases, NHS England have issued new guidelines and advised that all staff, patients and visitors should return to wearing face masks when attending dental practices.   We would like to thank all patients in advance for their understanding and support in relation to this.

We would also like to kindly remind patients that they should contact the Practice for further instructions if they are displaying symptoms of a respiratory illness, such as a new cough or high temperature, prior to their dental appointment.

Please kindly note the Practice will be closed on Thursday 2nd June 2022 and Friday 3rd June 2022 for the Queen’s Jubilee Bank Holiday.

Private and Denplan patients who require out-of-hours emergency treatment or advice should contact the Practice on (01629) 812991 and listen to the instructions on our answerphone.

NHS patients requiring out-of-hours emergency dental care should contact NHS 111 for further advice.

We’d really appreciate if patients would share some feedback on their recent visit to our Practice. It will only take 5 minutes to complete and will help to let us know what we’re doing right and how we can improve.

Our patient survey can be found here.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our patients a Happy Christmas and New Year!

Below are our modified opening hours during the festive period –

• Friday 24th December: 9am – 4pm
• Christmas Day – CLOSED
• Boxing Day – CLOSED
• Monday 27th December (BANK HOLIDAY) – CLOSED
• Tuesday 28th December (BANK HOLIDAY) – CLOSED
• Wednesday 29th December: 9am – 4pm
• Thursday 30th December: 9am – 4pm
• Friday 31st December: 9am – 4pm
• Saturday 1st January – CLOSED
• Sunday 2nd January – CLOSED
• Monday 3rd January (BANK HOLIDAY) – CLOSED
• Tuesday 4th January: NORMAL WORKING HOURS (8.15am – 5pm)

Private and Denplan patients who require out-of-hours emergency treatment or advice should contact the Practice on (01629) 812991 and listen to the instructions on our answerphone.

NHS patients requiring out-of-hours emergency dental care should contact NHS 111 for further advice.

Please click here for current information regarding waiting times for NHS orthodontic treatment which we have been asked to share by NHS England.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic our priority remains the safety and well-being of our patients and staff.  Although many COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted among the general population, we still need to act cautiously to stop the spread of the virus.  With this in mind, we would be most grateful if all patients would review the following questions prior to their dental appointments:

1. Do you have any of the following symptoms – a high temperature, a new continuous cough, OR a loss or alteration to taste or smell?
2. Have you or any member of your household/family had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in the last 10 days?
3. Are you or any member of your household/family waiting for a COVID-19 PCR test result?
4. Have you travelled internationally in the last 10 days to a country that is on the government red list?
5. Have you or any member of your household/family been advised to isolate by any NHS organisation in the last 10 days?

If you answer YES to ANY of these questions then you must contact the Practice immediately on (01629) 812991 for further instructions regarding your appointment and we thank you in advance for your understanding and co-operation with this.

Throughout the current coronavirus pandemic our first priority has been the safety and well-being of our patients and staff and this continues to be the case.  Although the remaining COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted among the general population, we still need to act cautiously to stop the spread of the virus.  The Chief Dental Officer has confirmed that most COVID-19 restrictions within dental practices should remain in place and we thank you in advance for your understanding and co-operation with this.  A summary of the current COVID-19 standard operating procedures are listed below –

Pre-arrival –

◊  Patient’s MUST cancel their appointment and self-isolate if:

• you have any symptoms of COVID-19 – a high temperature; a new, continuous cough or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste;
• you’ve tested positive for COVID-19
• someone that you live with has symptoms or has tested positive;
• you’ve been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS COVID-19 app
• you have arrived in England from abroad froma “red list” country, or from an “amber list” country and are not fully vaccinated (click here for further details)

Anyone presenting with any COVID-19 symptoms should arrange a PCR test immediately and stay at home until they have received their results.  

◊  If you consider yourself to be extremely clinically vunerable to COVID-19 then please contact the Practice on (01629) 812991 to discuss this with a member of our dental team.

◊  All patients will be sent a secure link via email or text message to the documents that would normally be completed at the practice.  To help reduce paperwork we would be most grateful if these forms are completed electronically prior to your appointment on either a tablet, smartphone or PC.

◊  To help with social distancing you can be accompanied by a maximum of one carer or parent, if necessary, but we would politely request that any other members of family wait outside the premises.

◊  Please ensure that you only bring essential personal items with you to your appointments.

◊  Patients must wear a face mask during their visits to the practice, unless medically exempt.  Please be aware, however, that due to national shortages in PPE we will be unable to supply masks for this purpose.

◊  At the practice, the upstairs toilet facilities will be closed to patients and will be allocated for staff-use only.  The downstairs toilet facilities will be locked and only opened on request – instructions will be left on the entrance to the facilities.  This is because all the surfaces within the toilet facilities will need to be disinfected after every single use.  The facilities won’t therefore be available for toothbrushing during this time.

Upon arrival at the Practice –

◊  Please try to arrive as close to your appointment time as possible.

◊  In line with updated guidance, we are now able to operate the Practice with an open door policy and patients are able to enter the premises upon arrival.  However, to help with social distancing there will be a maximum number of patients that are allowed in our waiting room at any one time so patients may be politely asked to wait outside until their appointment.

◊  Upon entering the Practice please disinfect your hands with antibacterial gel at our hand hygiene station and check-in at our reception desk.

◊  Floor markers are present inside the practice to aid with social distancing and the chairs in the waiting room have been positioned 2m apart.

◊  To help with cross-infection control, all the literature and policies in the waiting room have been temporarily removed – if you require any leaflets or copies of our policies then please see our receptionist after your appointment who will be more than happy to help.

◊ For the foreseeable future our clinicians will not be collecting patients in person and instead will be calling them to the surgeries via the big screen in the waiting area.

◊  When you are called into our surgeries, you will find that our clinicians will already be dressed in the appropriate PPE including masks and face shields and they will remain like this for the duration of your appointment.  You may also notice some of our non-clinical staff are also wearing PPE.  We appreciate that this can sometimes be very daunting and seem impersonal but we hope you understand why this is necessary during these times.  Some of the procedures we carry out generate aerosols (fine particles in the air) which means that we have to wear enhanced PPE and this looks different to what you will have seen us wear before.  This may be a little bit scary at first for young children so it would perhaps be a good idea just to pre-warn them about this.

◊  Before commencing any treatment, your dentist will present you with a treatment plan on an ipad and will ask if you would like a copy sending to you by e-mail.

◊  Upon leaving the surgery, please immediately disinfect your hands at one of our hand hygiene stations.  An additional station is positioned on the first floor landing.

◊  After your appointment we would be most grateful if you would visit our reception desk before your departure where our receptionist will assist you with your invoice and book any further appointments.  We would politely request that wherever possible any payments are made by card (preferably contactless) or Apple Pay.  

Once again we would like to express our sincere thanks for all your understanding and assistance with these new protocols and we look forward to seeing you at your next appointment!

We are currently looking to recruit an Apprentice Dental Nurse to join our hardworking and dedicated dental team.

Full details, including the application process, can be found here.

The deadline for applications is 24th July 2021.

Following the Prime Minster’s announcement tonight regarding a further national lockdown (commencing 5th January 2021), we have received confirmation that dental services will be allowed to continue and that the general public are legally permitted to leave their homes to access their dental appointments.  The Practice will continue to remain open for both urgent and routine dental care and any existing appointments will remain the same unless otherwise notified.

The health and well-being of our staff and patients remains our priority and the Practice is currently operating with a reduced number of surgeries to limit the number of people within the premises at any one time.  This means that the availability and choice of appointments is limited and we thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding with this matter.

To help improve access, the Practice opening hours have temporarily been extended as follows –

• Monday, Wednesday, Thursday – 8.15am – 7.45pm;
• Tuesday – 8.15am – 5.15pm;
• Friday – 8.15am – 5pm;
• Saturday (by arrangement only) – 9am – 12.30pm

Any patients requiring an appointment should contact our reception as normal on (01629) 812991.

Please be aware that we have made numerous changes to our standard operating procedures and a summary of our new patient journey and rules regarding attendance can be found here.  Kindly note that it is essential that these are read prior to your appointment.

We thank-you for continuing to entrust us with your dental care and look forward to seeing you at your next visit!