I always go with Alex the hygienist and when I arrived I was told due to Alex dropping her hours I was allocated another hygienist, and they didn’t have time to let me know prior to the appointment. I am sure that on my notes it states I will only see Alex after an unpleasant experience from a hygienist before meeting Alex. This did cause me some initial anxiety but I didn’t say anything as the receptionists were very no nonsense type. I feel my care wasn’t patient centred it was goal orientated for the practice. On the positive the other hygienist was good.
I haven’t seen a dentist since before the pandemic as 2 appointments have been cancelled by the practice. I became aware during my visit that the NHS have made a new rule that if you haven’t been for 2 years, you will be removed off their patient list and need to be accepted again as a new patient, however they are not taking on new patients.
When I did try to rebook a dental appointment I was told it would be in another 11 months.
It is clear that the practice is working on a back log but patients are suffering because of it.
The practice just isn’t the same anymore since the lead partner Mark retired. It is clear that they need more leadership and structure.
Patient care should always be at the heart of any good practice.
Such a shame .
Reply from Hexham Dental Clinic
Many thanks for taking the time to feedback your experience at our clinic. We take all feedback on board to help us look at how we can improve. I’m very sorry to hear of your recent 2-star experience with us and sorry to hear of the concerns you have reported. We try our very best to give our patients the best experience possible.
We have had a considerable backlog of both dental and hygiene appointments caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and our 3 hygienists have been doing their best to see all patients that require hygienist care. To maintain full service, all our hygienists have been covering extra sessions to try and help with the backlog. I’m sorry that you were not informed of the change of hygienist before your last appointment but pleased to hear that your experience was good. This is in line with the feedback we receive from other patients on all our hygienists.
NHS regulations determine a “new patient” to be anyone who has not had an NHS appointment within the previous 24 calendar months. Under this NHS guidance, you would be regarded as a new patient to the practice even though you had historically regularly attended. I understand that this NHS guidance exists to encourage practices to offer access to new patients.
Currently, given the extensive backlogs that have developed during the pandemic, we have a long NHS waiting list of new patients wishing to access our services, and we are unable to prioritise those patients that have been historic attendees of the practice. We would be able to add you to our waiting list should you wish but given that a routine examination with one of our NHS dentists is 12 months, we are sadly unable to say when we will have the capacity to see new patients. I am sorry we are unable to do more than this at this present time.
We would be more than happy to add you to our waiting list, and should circumstances change, we can contact you. If so, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team.
The practice is currently still under the same ownership as it always has been since 2007.
Once again, thanks for your feedback.
Sophie Davidson, Practice Manager
Overall, how was your experience of our service?
Poor
