Our policies

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Appointment Cancellation Policy 

It is the aim of this practice to provide quality dental care to our patients on schedule and to use clinical time effectively. To achieve this aim, we have an appointment management and cancellation policy.

Management of appointments
We invest in the latest technology, including modern telephone equipment , to allow our patients to make or reschedule appointments easily. Our appointment system supports timely access to care and treatment, allows patients to access services at a time that suits them and minimises the length of time people have to wait. Appointments can be made or rescheduled by calling  01932 866966 if you are welcomed by our answering service, please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as is possible.

Reminders
E-mail reminders are sent 2 weeks  before any appointment and text reminders are sent to patients 2 days before any appointment and patients are requested to inform the practice of any changes to their contact details, complete medical history and confirm their attendance.  

Cancellation or delay of an appointment by the practice
We will only cancel or delay a patient’s appointment in unavoidable circumstances. In such cases, we will take the following steps:

• The patient will be contacted as soon as the practice is aware of the need to cancel or delay the appointment. We will explain the reason for the cancellation or delay
• At the time of contact, the patient will be offered a new appointment at the earliest time available
• If the patient is unable to commit to a new appointment during that contact, we will ask them to get in touch at a later time, when we will offer them a priority appointment

Cancellation of an appointment or missed appointment: 

Patients are requested to give at least 24 hours’ notice to cancel a dental appointment. Cancellations should be made by telephone on: 01932 866966.  if you are welcomed by our answering service, please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as is possible. Late cancellations and missed appointments may represent a cost to the practice, when other patients could have been seen in the time set aside for the patient. 

There is a fee for dental appointments that are missed or cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice. The fee is based on the length of the appointment and the fees are detailed below and on our website. 

It is our aim to telephone or write to patients after a missed appointment to understand the reason for non-attendance and to inform them about any fee. We understand that cancellations are sometimes unavoidable due to illness or emergencies and we will take account of all valid circumstances.

Any appeals about missed or cancelled appointment decisions by a patient should be made in writing to the practice at admin@cobhamdental.co.uk, alternatively via post to our postal address.

Non Attendance Fee will be calculated dependent on appointment length. 

Complaints Handling Policy

It is the aim of this practice to ‘Have a Clear and Effective Complaints Procedure’ by meeting the GDC ‘Standards for the Dental Team’, and deliver good practice in complaint handling.

The practice has appointed a Complaints Manager, Claire Morrice, and our complaints procedure (G 110 C) is on display in a folder in the waiting room.

We have published our complaints procedure on our website in line with GDC advertising standards.

Feedback and complaints handling framework
This practice has developed a framework for managing complaints and feedback based on these principles:

1. All patient feedback is important to us
2. We want to make it easy for patients to raise a concern or complain, if you need to
3. We follow a complaints procedure and keep patients informed
4. We will try to answer all patient questions and any concerns you raise
5. We want patients to have a positive experience of making a complaint
6. Patient feedback helps us to improve our service
   
   

Recognising complaints
Our team are aware that complaints are any expression of dissatisfaction by a patient (or their representative) about a dental service or treatment. Complaints can be verbal or written and can be about any part of the service we provide. All complaints must be logged internally, even if the complaint was verbal and resolved within 24 hours.

Recording complaints
All complaints are recorded on our complaints/compliment log at reception. All correspondence or investigation records are stored with the Record and Register. Complaint Records are treated as confidential at all times and kept separate from clinical records. Only authorised persons have access to the Complaints Records. 

Handling complaints
The practice team is trained to resolve all complaints promptly, efficiently and politely by following our Patient Complaints Procedure (G 110C). The team responds to complaints in the time limits set by the Patient Complaints Procedure and always provides constructive responses to complaints. The practice never discriminates against a patient who has made a complaint.

Team members cannot react defensively to a complaint but must listen carefully to a patient who makes one whilst involving them fully in the process of managing it. The team members will, to the best of their abilities, endeavour to meet any outcomes the patient expects and offer sincere apologies when appropriate.

If a patient is not satisfied despite our best efforts to resolve the complaint, they will be informed about other avenues that are open to them such as the GDC Dental Complaints Service and the NHS Ombudsman.

The team are regularly trained in complaint handling and are involved in the regular review of complaints, complaints procedures and management through iComply so that services, policies and procedures can be continually improved.

Response timescales
All complaints will be acknowledged and responded to by the practice within the timescales detailed in the Patient Complaints Procedure (G 110C/CW).

We keep patients informed of the status of the complaint during the investigation stage and always aim to resolve the complaint within the timeframe specified in our policies and procedures or as agreed with the complainant.

Online reviews
The practice appoints a team member to regularly check for online reviews. All feedback, both positive and negative is acknowledged and we follow the recommendations for dealing with poor reviews outlined in the Complaints, Problems and Events Overview (G 110).

Related documents
This policy should be read with the Patient Complaints Procedure (G 110C) and the Complaints, Problems and Events Overview (G 110).

This practice is committed to complying with the Data Protection Act 2018, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), GDC, NHS and other data protection requirements relating to our work. We only keep relevant information about employees for the purposes of employment and about patients to provide them with safe and appropriate health care. This policy forms part of an Information Governance document suite and the other related policies and procedures are listed at the end of this policy. All data protection and information security policies procedures and risk assessments are reviewed annually in iComply. 

The person responsible for data protection and information security is the Information Governance Lead, Claire Morrice. 

Our lawful bases and conditions for processing personal data are specified in our Privacy Notice (M 217T). 

Consent
The practice offers individuals real choice and control. Our consent procedures put individuals in charge to build patient trust and engagement. Our consent for marketing requires a positive opt-in, we don’t use pre-ticked boxes or any other method of default consent. We make it easy for people to withdraw consent, tell them how to and keep contemporaneous evidence of consent. Consent to marketing is never a precondition of a service.  

Pseudonymisation 

Pseudonymisation means transforming personal data so that it cannot be attributed to an individual unless there is additional information.  

• Pseudonymisation – the data can be tracked back to the original data subject 
• Anonymisation – that data cannot be tracked back to the original data subject
   

Examples of pseudonymisation we use are:  

• We never identify patients in research, patient feedback reports or other publicly available information
  
• When we store and transmit electronic data it is encrypted and the encryption key is kept separate from the data 

Data breaches
We report certain types of personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, where feasible. If the breach results in a high risk of adversely affecting individuals’ rights and freedoms we also inform those individuals without undue delay. We keep contemporaneous records of any personal data breaches, whether or not we need to notify. For our data breach notification procedures see Information Governance Procedures (M 217C). 

Right to be informed
We provide ‘fair processing information’, through our Privacy Notice (M 217T) and the Privacy Notice for Children (M 217TC), which provide transparency about how we use personal data. These are available [on our website and] from the practice. 

Your data rights
Right of Access
Individuals have the right to access their personal data and supplementary information. The right of access allows individuals to be aware of and verify the lawfulness of the processing. If an individual contacts the practice to access their data they will be provided with, as requested: 

• Confirmation that their data is being processed
  
• Access to their personal data
  
• Any other supplementary information about your rights as found below and in our Privacy Notices (M 217T) and (M 217TC) 

Right to erasure
The right to erasure is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’. The practice will delete personal data on request of an individual where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing. The right to erasure applies to individuals who are not patients at the practice. If the individual is or has been a patient, the clinical records will be retained according to the retention periods in Record Retention (M 215) and after the periods stated can be deleted upon request. 

Right of rectification
Individuals have the right to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete. 

Right to restriction
Individuals have a right to ‘block’ or suppress the processing of their personal data. If requested we will store their personal data, but stop processing it. We will retain just enough information about the individual to ensure that the restriction is respected in the future. 

Right to object
Individuals have the right to object to direct marketing and processing for purposes of scientific research and statistics.  

Data portability
An individual can request the practice to transfer their data in electronic or in another format. 

Privacy by design
We implement technical and organisational measures to integrate data protection into our processing activities. Our data protection and information governance management systems and procedures take Privacy by design as their core attribute to promote privacy and data compliance. 

Records
We keep records of processing activities for future reference. 

Privacy impact assessment
To identify the most effective way to comply with their data protection obligations and meet individuals’ expectations of privacy we review our Privacy Impact Assessment annually in iComply using the Sensitive Information Map, PIA and Risk Assessment (M 217Q). 

Information security 

Information Governance Procedures (M 217C) includes the following information security procedures:

• Team members follow the ‘Staff Confidentiality Code of Conduct’, which clarifies their legal duty to maintain confidentiality, to protect personal information and provides guidance on how and when personal or special category data can be disclosed
• How to manage a data breach, including reporting 
• A comprehensive set of procedures, risk assessments and activities to prevent the data we hold being accidentally or deliberately compromised and to respond to a breach in a timely manner  
• The requirements and responsibilities if team members use personal equipment such as computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone for practice business 

Regular review
This policy and the data protection and information governance procedures it relates to are reviewed annually with iComply. 

iComply related policies and procedures 

M 215 - Record Retention  
M 216 - Data Protection Overview
M 216A - GDPR and Data Protection Action Plan
M 217A – Guide for Completing the Data Security and Protection Toolkit  
M 217C – Information Governance Procedures  
M 217M – Physical Security Risk Assessment
M 217N - Business Impact Analysis
M 217Q - Sensitive Information Map, PIA and Risk Assessment
M 217S – Legitimate Interests Assessment
M 217T – Privacy Notice
M 233-CON - Confidentiality Policy
M 233-REM – Record Management Policy
M 233- DPQ – Data Quality Policy (NHS)
M 255 - Disaster Planning and Emergency Procedures Arrangements 

Further information
Information Commissioner www.ico.org.uk, GDPR Regulation