News

Fauzia and Shaun became our latest Foundation Dentists in September 2021 (Joe Moore left at the end of August).   August saw the arrival of Amy our Dental Therapist and Becky our apprentice dental nurse. We are trying to recruit an Associate Dentist  and temporary cleaner; if interested please see jobs.

[End Jun 2021] Our buidling has a 'new' slate roof. Thank you to everyone for putting up with the occasional dust and noise.  Let's hope the new roof lasts another 200 years.  Well done to Loomes Roofing Contractors Ltd.

During the remainder of 2021, we plan to paint treatment rooms and the patient loo.  Subject to Listed Building regulations we hope to revamp the rear car park's fence and garage roof.

We always try to listen to our customers.  If you would like to provide additional written feedback please consider filling in our online patient questionnaire, or ask a staff member during your visit for a paper form.

We are aware that our reception telephones can be engaged at times.  Sorry, we are investigating a new telpehone system.  Quieter times are mid morning and mid afternoon.

For those of you wishing to become our patients, we briefly opened our waiting lists in the Summer of 2021.  Sorry, after so much interest they had to be closed.  We hope to enrole people as soon as possible.  Anyone else wishing to join in future please check our new patient list pages before you call the reception team, or try the NHS Dental Search tool.  Note that we receive numerous requests from non-patients to join our practice everyday, hopefully by Spring 2022 we can stop turning people away.

The UK Data Protection Act 2018 requires companies to explain personal data rights by publishing a Privacy Notice.  WHDP's privacy notice was updated 14/5/2021 to reflect a technical issue it has with the deletion of 'aged' data that is no longer required to be held.  As soon as the issue has been resolved the aged data will be re-reviewed and securely deleted.  The PN also explains that information on debtors will be retained for a legitimate.

From 1/4/2021, the private dental prices are changing.  Hygiene fees remain the same.  A few treatments have increased to reflect material costs outside the control of the dental practice.  Most significant change is we now include the cost of up to two intraoral Xrays (normally £8 each) in the routine dental examination fee, £45.  Discounts for under 18s continue.

Until otherwise informed by NHS England.  There is no change to the NHS band 1, 2 and 3 fees that were last changed in December 2020.

We at Wedgwood House Dental Practice enjoy working in our Grade II listed building and I hope you, our customers, enjoy visiting too.  In order to keep everyone safe, we have installed CCTV in the rear car park area as described in our GDPR privacy notice.

Sorry we have no responsibility for our neighbours.  We appologise for any inconvenience the deposited food waste and litter may cause you.

From January 2021, the government began to distribute the Covid19 vaccines to its citizens across the UK.  All are staff are double vaccinated.

We at the dental practice look forward to a relaxation of the pandemic restrictions so we can see our extended families but also welcome our patients with smiling faces not disguised with protective masks.  We encourage everyone to take government advise and accept the vaccine when offered it.

For details on the vaccine see here. 

We said goodbye to Dr Anitha Baskaran on the 21st May 2021 and wished her and family luck.

<December 2020> Jessica (Jess) joined the dental practice as our new Apprentice nurse. 

Anna Geaney joined in December 2020 as a part-time receptionist.  From February 2021 took on additional hours, provide digital marketing consultancy and perform the Data Protection Officer (DPO) role.

Both our 2019-20 foundation dentists, Anitha and Samsam, completed their work placements.  Anitha become an associate dentist in September 2020, and Joesph (Joe) joined us August 2020 to be our new foundation dentist.  We wish them well.

Eariler in 2020, the Covid19 disruptions saw two of our dental associates leave us.  We wish Elizabeth (Lizzy) and Richard best of luck with their futures.

And from summer 2019:

Welcome to our two new Foundation Dentists, Samsam (Sam) and Anitha, and our new apprentice dental nurse Ebony. 

Well done to Sophie and Corrina on obtaining their dental nursing qualification.

Welcome to our new dental hygienist, Gil Le Grys, June 2019.  Gil brings to us her experience of London's Harley Street and we hope she will be a hit with all our patients.

<December 2020> The UK government will increase the price (to the customer) of NHS dental treatments from 14th December 2020.  An overall 5% increase.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-11-23/hcws593

<October 2020> It's a quarter of a year since we re-opened our doors to see patients.  The World still suffers from Covid19.  The UK has begun just begund a "second wave" of infections.

Hopefully our patients have received the dental care they need.  I offer a big thank you to all staff at Wedgwood House for their hard work.  The reception team who spend hours each day repeating "the Covid19 questions" that keep everyone safe.  The medical staff who wear hot, difficult to breath-through protective equipment.  And the support staff keeping our business going.

As we go forward I'd like to remind all patients who can.  Please provide us with your up to date contact details including mobile and email address.  The English Chief Dental Officer reminds us to embrace technology to allow us to better serve patients with online booking, etc.

Please send us any suggestions improvement and well-done stories.

Kind regards, WHDP

<June 2020> We re-opened the dental practice on the 17th June 2020.  Please can everyone keep safe by following the new operating procedures.  More information on the new Patient Journey can be found in our letter, which will be discussed with you on making an appointment and emailed to you. Be aware that at present we have limited appointments, but hope to increase as the National Covid-19 situation eases.

Since the 1st of April 2020 Dr JM Geaney and her colleagues attended the practice each day to provide advice, analgesia or antimicrobials where appropriate in line with NHS prescribing guidelines (AAA), but remained closed due to Covid-19. We hope that you remained safe and well.

The statement given out by the government that dentists in England will re-open on the 8th June 2020 misled the public: we could only re-open with  adequate safety measures and PPE in place.  Today there is still a national shortage of PPE meaning that some staff will be prevented from performing certain treatments. Please be patient with our reception staff who have lots of Covid-19 related questions to ask.  

The UK Data Protection Law requires us to publish changes to the way we protect and secure your personal data.  The Privacy Notice records this change.  To enhance the way we mitigate the risk of crypto ransomware, we use secure cloud storage for daily back-up of digital personal data.  This technical change was agreed by our Data Protection Officer.

NHS Advice about Children's Oral Health is added to our website, including what to do should a child's tooth be knocked out.  For information see here, or discuss with your dentist at their next appointment.  21/02/2020.

Please see the information from NHS coronavirus (COVID-19).  See a summary here and the NHS website for up to date information https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19

We offer EMS AIRFLOW® hygiene treatments for the maintenance of your smile.  Recommended for patients with dental implants, braces and veneers, or who just want the gentle effects of water and EMS powders to scale and polish their teeth.

The private fees were updated on the 1st January 2020, to reflect both the world increase in precious metal (e.g. gold) costs and associated laboratory price rises and staff wages since October 2018.  Recent change includes the impact of the UK Government's decision to increase the National minimum and living wage by over 6% in April 2020, and of course the Covid-19 situation.

Our private prices are very competitve.  To improve affordability to families we discount child examination prices by 50% to those under 18 years old (and children under 5 years free) when they accompany a private fee paying adult.

Notes

• The fee price guide was edited on 14/2/2020 (version 11alt) to better describe the Airflow treatments.  There is no change to price.
• The cost of soft and hard bite raising appliances was changed, £90 and £270, respectively to reflect the cost of laboratory fees.  4/3/2020 (version 12).
• Minimal wage and Covid-19 change, 15/6/2020 (version 13).

On the 1st April 2020, the NHS treatment prices for non-exempt patients remained the same as 2019 but may increase in September 2020.

The European Union's General Protection Redulation (GDPR) came into force on 25 May 2018.  In the UK, the uplifted Data Protection Act gained Royal Ascent on 23 May 2018 (DPA2018).  The DPA2018 specifies the applicable parts of the GDPR and extensions to the GDPR.

Wedgwood House Dental Practice is committed to complying with the GDPR and DPA2018. How we comply is described in the Privacy Notice.

Since the introduction of our new computer system with its appointment reminder facility, we see less patients failing to turn up for their dentist and hygienist appointments.  Thank you.

We remind all patients, especially those making family appointments, whenever possible to provide (or reconfirm) mobile and email contact details to the reception team.

Should you be unwell or be able to attend your appointment, please contact the reception team ASAP. Doing so may allow your appointment slot to be given to another patient.

Failure to attend (*) may result in you being de-registered from our dental practice and you being charged for the missed private appointment. 

* Children who are not brought to their dental appointment by their parent or guardiance.  Note the NICE guidance in section 1.3 of Public Health England Safeguarding in general practice - A toolkit for dental teams.

Environmental Protection

To save the planet, we use digital documentation and digital X-rays instead of paper and harmful chemicals, respectively.  From 2018 we use electronic SMS texts and emails to advise you of your dental appointment, and we hope to add additional digital services where feasible.  Please provide your mobile telephone number and email contact details to the reception team on arrival at the practice.

We will do our best to support those patients that do not have or wish not to use mobile or email communications.

Please arrive a little earlier for your dental appointment, if possible, to sign updated consent forms.

Previous Announcements

John Geaney again supported the Christmas 2019 'North Pole Express' festivities at the Mid Suffolk Light Railway (mslr.org.uk).

A hearing loop system installed to assist our customers with hearing difficulties, 6/10/17.  Thank you to nurse Nadia for helping select, train and install the device.

On the 2/5/2017 we were inspected by the CQC.  All 5 areas of competence were met (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led).  We're so proud of our staff and their dedication to delivering quality dental services.  We're so grateful to all our customers' feedback that demonstrated 'a very positive view of the practice and the staff who worked [here]'.

Independent dental hygiene appointments normally require a financial deposit.  Should you fail to attend, or cancel within 24 working hours of the appointment, the full cost of the treatment will be charged.