Patient Journey

At The White House Dental Practice we are committed to ensure that your dental visit will be a pleasant, effective and safe experience. In the current climate of COVID-19 we have adapted some of our protocols and procedures to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus to keep you and our staff safe.

Appointment availability:

It is our intention for the practice to re-open for patients at the earliest appropriate opportunity in June, and we ask you to check our website and Facebook page for updates. As per the Chief Dental Officer’s recommendations, the sequencing and scheduling of patients for treatment as services resume will take into account:

• The urgency of needs.
• The particular unmet needs of vulnerable people
• Available capacity to undertake activity.

Rest assured, we have not forgotten about you, but we will have to work through the list of patients as above

We will be prioritising?

• Patients with emergency problems or other dental problems that require urgent assessment and treatment.
• Patients who have contacted us via phone and email since the practice has closed with various dental issues.

We will inform you when we are able to see:

• Patients with treatment that was incomplete before the practice was temporarily closed.

Pre-appointment

You will be triaged by our dental team to ensure that appointments are prioritised appropriately. All patients will be seen by appointment only. You may be sent documents prior to your appointment, which you should read carefully and fill out if applicable.

COVID-19 screening: we will check your COVID status by asking you various questions before booking your appointment, the day before your appointment and when you arrive for your appointment, with the addition of a temperature check using a non-contact thermometer on arrival. This is to reduce the potential transmission of the virus. Please be aware that if you are showing signs and symptoms of COVID-19 you will be asked to return home and your appointment will be rescheduled in accordance to NHS guidelines.

What we expect from you:

We are following the latest guidelines and protocols. As a result, your visit will be different than the last time you came.

• Please prepare yourself at home to have freshly brushed teeth using your routine oral hygiene measures.
• Please remember to bring your credit/debit card as we will not be taking any cash payments.
• You will need to wait outside of the practice until your scheduled appointment time.
• Please do not bring anyone with you into the building unless this person is accompanying a vulnerable adult, a disabled person or a child. Please notify us before the appointment that such a person will attend with you, as they will need to be screened for COVID-19. Please plan to keep siblings and other family and friends out of the building.
• Please try to arrive cool and calm. Please don’t run or race your bike to your appointment and try to use the lift to come upstairs as your body temperature will be raised and you might appear feverish.
• Upon arrival, before entering the reception area, you will be requested to disinfect your hands with hand sanitiser and a team member will unlock the door and use annon-contact thermometer to measure your body temperature. If you are feverish, we will ask you follow NHS self-isolation guidance and to rebook your appointment for at least two weeks’ time.
• As you are invited into the building we will offer you a face mask that simply hooks over your ears and covers your mouth and nose. Our reception team are there to help you and will now be wearing a mask and behind a screen to protect their working environment.
• We would like to request you to ideally use the toilet facilities prior to your visit to the surgery as we ought to keep you in the premises for as little time as possible after your treatment session.
• Our team will be wearing various levels of PPE but we are all likely to, at least be wearing a mask as we greet you.
• We will allocate a seat for you in one of our waiting areas and you will be requested to remain in that place until you are called into the surgery in order to maintain social distancing.
• We will then invite you into one of our surgeries which would have been thoroughly disinfected to guarantee the safest clinical environment. For treatments involving aerosols (most dental treatments), your dentist and dental nurse will be wearing some extra layers of PPE, don’t be frightened.
• You will be requested to place your personal belongings and coats in a box in order to minimise contamination of your clothing and other belongings with aerosols.
• After our initial discussion during which you must keep your mask on, we will ask to take your mask off and use mouthwash for 1 minute.
• Your dental appointment will be as normal except the room may be cool for you as we must have fresh air circulating in the room. Please come prepared to keep yourself warm with an extra layer and covered legs.
• You will be requested to put your face-mask back on before leaving the room.
• We will direct you to one of our reception team members in order to finalise the check-out process and make further appointments as necessary.

Thank you very much for your cooperation during these difficult times.