To ensure punctuality and smooth running of the clinic, we kindly request that all patients arrive 10 minutes prior to their scheduled appointment time.

We appreciate that unforeseen circumstances may occasionally lead to lateness. Where possible, we will endeavour to accommodate late arrivals; however, the practice reserves the right to assess whether sufficient time remains to safely and appropriately complete the planned treatment.

This decision will depend on several factors, including the nature of the appointment and the treatment required. While we aim to be understanding, our priority is to maintain high clinical standards and fairness to all patients.

Please note that arrivals of 15 minutes or more after the scheduled appointment time will be treated as a failed to attend appointment. In such cases, the appointment may need to be cancelled, and a late cancellation or missed appointment fee will apply.

If it is not feasible to proceed with treatment due to lateness, a late cancellation fee of £85 will be charged to compensate for the clinical time reserved. Where a deposit has been paid, the practice reserves the right to retain the deposit in full.

Once the late fee has been settled, we will be happy to assist in arranging a further appointment.

We kindly thank You for Your understanding and cooperation in helping us run the clinic efficiently and provide the best possible care to all our patients.

This privacy policy sets out how Richmond Dental Centre uses and protects any information that you give when you use this website. Richmond Dental Centre is committed to ensuring that Your privacy is protected. Should we ask You to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then You can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. By using this website, You give your consent that all personal data You submit may be processed in the manner and for the purposes described below. What information we collect and how.

• Contact details – we need to contact You on a regular basis during the entirety of our relationship. If You do choose to become a patient with us, Your contact details become part of Your healthcare records.
• Health data – we must store sensitive healthcare data to treat You as a patient. We are legally obliged to hold this data for 11 years.
• Financial data – if You are a customer, we must keep track of Your basic financial information (transactions made with us)
• Marketing data – we have a legal obligation to store Your preference to receive marketing from us.
• Sensitive data – as stated above we may hold some sensitive data about You in the form of healthcare records. If we don’t collect this data, we will be unable to provide you with healthcare services. We will never process this data outside of our duties as a healthcare provider.

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide You with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

1. Internal record keeping.
2. We may use the information to improve our products and services.
3. We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think You may find interesting using the email address which You have provided.
4. From time to time, we may also use Your information to contact You for market research purposes. We may contact You by email, phone or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to Your interests.

Second opinion:

1. Upon submission, Your personal data and photos or X-rays will be stored for a maximum of 3 months if we do not hear from You further.
2. We will never sell or provide Your personal data to a third party for marketing purposes.

Using online enquiry forms, we may collect the following information:

1. Name
2. Contact information including email address and phone number
3. Demographic information such as date of birth
4. Other information relevant to customer’s enquiry

What we do with Your information

Any personal information we collect from this website will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and other applicable laws.

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of Your personal information. If You have previously agreed to us using Your personal information for direct marketing purposes, You may change Your mind at any time by sending us an email requesting to stop marketing communication. We will not sell, distribute or lease Your personal information to third parties unless required by law to do so. You may request details of personal information which we hold about You under the Data Protection Act. A small fee may be payable. If You would like a copy of the information held on You, please email in**@*********************co.uk. If You believe that any information we are holding on You is incorrect or incomplete, please email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Your Rights

Your privacy rights have been strengthened and amended under the GDPR. You have a right to, in relation to Your data;

• Request access
• Correct
• Erase
• Transfer
• Object to processing
• Portability
• Withdraw consent

You can contact us to exercise any of Your rights at any time. We will need to verify Your identity to comply with any request to exercise Your rights. We will need some personal information to do so, strictly for the purpose of identity verification. All requests should be resolved within one month. This, however, may take longer for requests that require a more complex resolution. We will inform You of any delays that may be required, along with justification.

This privacy policy only covers this website. Any other websites which may be linked to by our website are subject to their own policy, which may differ from ours.

Our first objective, first and foremost, is to try and ensure that You have nothing to complain about when You attend Richmond Dental Centre. However, even with the best of intentions, we understand that sometimes You need to bring something to our attention that is important to You.

In this practice we take complaints very seriously indeed and try to ensure that all patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. This procedure is based on these objectives.

Complaints made to the practice

1. Any concern raised by a patient will be dealt with at the earliest opportunity and will only escalate into a complaint if it cannot be resolved at the earliest stage. The concern will be dealt with by the most appropriate person at the time, for example the Clinician or Receptionist. If the concern cannot be resolved, the person responsible for dealing with any complaint about the service which we provide is the Practice Manager or the Practice Owner.

2. If a patient raises a concern on the telephone or in person at the Practice, we will listen to their concern and try to resolve the issue at that point. If this is not possible, the concern will be dealt with as a complaint and will be referred to the Practice Manager or Practice Owner. If the Practice Manager or Practice Owner are not available at the time, then the patient will be told when the Practice Manager or Practice Owner will be able to talk to them and the member of staff will take brief details of the complaint and pass them onto the Practice Manager or Practice Owner. Concerns received in writing will be passed directly to the Practice Manager or Practice Owner, who will try to resolve them or, if this isn’t possible, will escalate them into being dealt with as a complaint. Where possible, the Practice Manager or Practice Owner will try to meet with or talk to the patient to better understand the concerns raised.

3. We will acknowledge the patient’s complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within five working days.

4. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges, it will normally be referred to the dental surgeon responsible for Your care, unless You do not want this to happen. In this case You will be referred to Egle Sauciuvenaite.

5. We will acknowledge Your complaint together with a copy of this Code of Practice within five working days. You will be invited to discuss Your concerns; we will seek to investigate the complaint within the agreed response period of the complaint being received to give an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within this agreed time period, we will notify You in writing, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.

6. We will confirm the decision about Your complaint in writing immediately after completing our investigation. This will be within 14 days of the complaint being received. In our response, we will set out the findings of the investigation and make every effort to achieve a resolution.

7. If You do not wish to complain directly to the Practice you can address Your complaint directly to the Dental Complaints Service however they will normally ask You to first of all contact the practice to complain directly so that the issue can be addressed locally first.

Dental Complaints Service
Stephenson House
2 Cherry Orchard Road
Croydon
CR0 6BA
www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk
020 8253 0800
(Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm)