Important Patient Information for all our patients – sorry its long ! 

All July appointments are going ahead as planned and we ask that you read the information on the ‘Appointment Information’ Tab which details what will happen at your appointment.

We are now one of the 30% of UK dentists open , and also one of the 10% of them who are  in a position to SAFELY  provide all the previously available care we offered. Visiting us is safe and we have updated our already stringent cross infection controls to also now reduce as much as is humanly possible,  any risk of Covid 19 in our premises.

If you have any questions or concerns about visiting us , please email us or ring Danielle on 01790 755312 or on reception2010@hotmail.co.uk

We are working our way through being able to treat the most urgent needs first, which is going very well and the feedback has been very positive!

We have recently sent a text to all our patients  (on 15/6/20) asking everyone to read this website :- 

All clients:-

PLEASE, this week if possible  CAN YOU EMAIL US ON reception2010@hotmail.co.uk stating

1. your name
2. date of birth
3. a working and current  email address

In these times of fast paced updates we want to keep everyone informed and (see later) we are reducing greatly our use of postage services.  We appreciate not all of our clients are on the internet, but if we can have an email for a family member or friend please .

DENPLAN (SIMPLY HEALTH) CLIENTS. IMPORTANT 

Please read the following and let us know your wishes for any appointments that you were due under Denplan payments and have missed as a result of our temporary closure .

If you were due for an examination / hygienist visit then we have the following options:-

1. Please ring us / email us and ask for your “catch up” appointment  – this will be with Mitchell and will include a hand scale and polish if reqd. The normal ultrasonic scale & polish is now classified as a ” Aerosol generating procedure ” and we can do it for you , but it requires a ” high level PPE ” and there will be a surcharge , for which I am incredibly sorry but there is simply no other option in these unprecedented times due to the massive cost of providing these procedures.
2. If you are content to not have the appointment, or do not wish to have a hand scale and polish  at this time and wish to wait until you are next due , again please email us and let us know.

If we don’t hear from you , we sadly haven’t the staff time to ring over 1000 patients and we will assume that you are content with Option 2 above. 

Thankyou very much .

At this time  if you have a Routine Appointment in June , please consider it cancelled unless you hear otherwise DIRECT from us.

IMPORTANT PATIENT INFORMATION PLEASE READ IN FULL :-

*** You will receive an email from ‘Survey Creators’ within 3 days of your appointment. Please fill in both the COVID assessment & medical history update form as without these, we can not proceed with your appointment*** 

A more detailed document about our Covid Re-opening Policy and Standard Operating Procedure is available on our website , please click on the Appointment Information button on the homepage. THIS IS BEING UPDATED CONTINUALLY AS GUIDANCE  / REGULATIONS CHANGE.

 *** EMAIL / MOBILE PHONE PROVISION UPDATE FOR  YOUR RECORDS  WITH US *** 

You will be receiving a text message from us explaining that we NEED,  from now on,  ALL of  our patients to update their medical history ELECTRONICALLY 48 hrs prior to any future appointment , THIS WILL INCLUDE A NEW COVID 19 RISK ASSESSMENT TOOL. This is compulsory for ALL  of our patients please and will be emailed to you within 3 days of your appointment. If you have any difficulties with this form, please email Danielle on reception2010@hotmail.co.uk.

We also very much NEED  (sorry .. all very needy) a valid contact number and  email address for ALL OF OUR PATIENTS (yours, or a family member , or close friend  .. we will need a consent form signing to send details to an email address that is not yours ) . We will, with immediate effect ,  be ceasing sending out via letters  via Royal Mail , treatment plans , appointment reminders etc via  the post, as this has become unsustainable .

The email address to send

Your name / address / email address & tel number ( pref a mobile ) is

reception2010@hotmail.co.uk

If you still wish to receive anything by post  we will  need a signed instruction to do so, and we will charge a fee for every item sent out to you.  Electronic communication will remain free of charge.

At this time we cannot print items for you to collect at this increases patient traffic at the practice.  If you have any concerns or complaints re the above , please contact  Dr Clark and he can discuss this with you in regard to any particular personal difficulties this may present you with.

We totally appreciate that not all of our patients are computer or internet familiar and we would  ask that anyone with problems doing so ask a family member or a friend to help them. If this is not possible please ring us on 01790 753536 and we will do our utmost to help but initially we will have limited staff , so please bear with us.

Preparing to come for an appointment:-

The following may seem a little “over the top” but is being asked to reduce the Covid risk to my team , my patients and myself and also to protect YOU. It also is trying to protect the dental practice from repeated closures if we have a Covid occurrence at the practice,  via the track and trace system now in place.

• Please go onto the website a MINIMUM of 48 Hours prior to your appointment and complete the updated online Medical History and Covid 19 assessment tool, this will then send us the completed forms to place on your notes.

IF THIS IS NOT DONE YOUR APPOINTMENT WILL BE CANCELLED AND WE WILL LEVY A FEE FOR THE ENTIRE LOST APPOINTMENT TIME.

• If you have any Covid 19 symptoms starting after you have completed the online tools please inform us immediately and we will decide on what is the best course of action for you as regards dental care and your dental appointment.
• On the day of your appointment please follow the following checklist :-

• TRANSPORT :- Arrange in advance how you are getting to us for your appointment.

• GUESTS :- We will not be allowing ANYONE WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT into the building (this reduces potential covid exposure in the building), so please arrange relevant childcare, if applicable  well in advance.

THIS IS UNLESS:-  

• You need someone with you to provide valid consent / understanding for the treatment. (ie parents of the child with an appointment , learning difficulties , hearing difficulties etc etc )
• You need help with mobility into the practice.

• SUITABLE CLOTHING :- Please put on fresh clothes just before you come to your appointment

This is a strange request I appreciate , but reduces the risk the clothes  you have on ,may have the virus on them from other buildings , shops etc esp as “lockdown” is relaxed. We fully appreciate this is not always easy , if you are at work etc  etc and have to change, but again it helps us remain open to help you and all our patients and is part of our re-opening risk assessment.

• VERY IMPORTANT :- Please come straight to your appointment , DO NOT go anywhere else prior to your appointment such as shopping etc .
• DO YOU NEED IT? :- Please DO NOT BRING ANYTHING UNNECESSARY into the building with you , such as handbags , coats , etc etc as every surface something of yours touches ,we have to disinfect and this presents a Covid risk to us . If you do need to bring a coat etc in with you we will ask you to place them in a box with a lid outside of the surgery area.

• MOBILE PHONES :- If you bring a mobile phone in with you , please put it in a pocket that can be zipped or secured as we will not allow it to be placed on any surface in the practice or touched by yourself during the appointment , or it can go in the lidded box outside of the surgery area.

• ARRIVING :- On arrival at the practice we will be expecting you. If someone is not present to welcome you ( the practice is operating a LOCKED door policy at this time ) then please ring us on 01790 753536 OR 07734605285 .At busier times with increasing patient numbers over time , please approach the small window to the left  of the main entrance door and you will be given a Buzzer , please return to your car and as soon as we are ready for you we will activate the buzzer. Please then follow the above instructions.

• HANDWASH STATION :- Please use the provided antibacterial handwash station outside the building to thoroughly wash your hands PRIOR to entering the building.

• SPACE RANGERS :- Please don’t be alarmed , as the dental team will ALLREADY BE WEARING masks etc ready to treat you . It will feel a lot less personal than you are used to , were really sorry for this , its still us underneath the outfit , but bear with us ! I intend to upload a picture of us in our PPE so you are aware of how we will look.

• ( Optional , NO CHARGE ).. if you wish us to do so we can take a simple non invasive reading of your blood oxygen levels for your and our information as the start of treatment. One of the reasons for this is that sometimes a “silent” covid infection can reduce your blood oxygen levels , without you being aware of it and the Pulse oximeter gives us this information.)

• TREATMENT COSTINGS :- Initially as the appointments will be emergencies we will not be able, over the phone, to give you an exact cost , or treatment plan prior to your appointment. Once you have been examined , we will give you a cost verbally in the surgery and we will take your verbal agreement to continue should you wish to do so. If you do not wish to proceed that remains 100% your choice, BUT there will be a minimum fee of £99 for the emergency appointment. This is to PARTIALLY cover the HUGE costs of PPE , surgery time etc .

• PPE COSTS:- Sadly because of COVID we have to increase our already incredibly high and very safe levels of cross infection control to even higher levels with extra measures to protect all against this new novel virus. This , at this time , is very very expensive , and our previous  fees will not cover the costs of it and still leave us with a viable business.  Our options were to put prices in general up to cover the additional costs , or I felt more transparently, to charge a separate PPE fee for the items used and extra surgery time taken, to comply with the current guidelines . Where  multiple appointments may be required to complete your treatment this will inevitably increase costs for you for which I apologise in advance .  We will of course try our utmost to minimise any extra appointments etc as we are acutely aware of trying to reduce costs to our patients at this time.

PPE FEES:–

There are 2 distinct category’s  of treatment now as defined by current regulations :-

1. Low level procedures – where a dental aerosol is not produced, such as examinations, scaling done using hand instruments , a simple xray etc and for this we need PPE broadly similar to previous levels albeit the type of paper mask is a more protective variant than the standard masks we used to use HOWEVER the cost of them compared to COVID 19 has gone up by 800% !
2. High level or ( AGP  – aerosol generating procedures) where we will be generating “spray from your mouth” These procedures are anything that involves a mixture of air and water , such as scaling done with the normal ultrasonic equipment. using our drills , using air and water combination in any form. The room then on completion has to be immediately vacated by my team and left empty for up to an hour  to allow any  potential virus containing aerosol to settle , then the room has to be deep cleaned everywhere after every procedure. This obviously enormously increases the cost of providing each procedure and renders the surgery unuseable . We are very lucky in the fact I have three surgeries to use , so we can move to the next surgery to do for example another high level procedure. This has meant that each room has had to have additional equipment purchased to allow me to do fillings etc in them , again another huge cost.

Sometimes what may seem simple to start with and be planned to be a low level procedure may become by its nature a high level procedure and as such we have taken the decision at this time to setup for a “high level” procedure , this saves duplication on PPE and a huge amount of time changing setups to comply with current regulations.

The charges we are making to only partially cover the enormous investment ( currently circa £13,000 )  I have made to enable us to be open at this time when many are not , or open but not doing high level procedures , are as follows:-

LOW LEVEL PROCEDURES:- 

Denplan Patients :-     – FREE OF CHARGE as a thankyou for their loyalty during these difficult times.

Non Denplan Patients :-  £12

HIGH LEVEL PROCEDURES 

Denplan Patients :- £40

Non denplan patients :-£53

We have to  work  to the PPE recommendations applicable at the time and we will constantly be reviewing the costs of the PPE and the levels we need to use, as the Covid threat level reduces we hopefully will be able to use less PPE , hence less cost to you as we need to use less , and the supply costs of the PPE reduces.

After your appointment is finished :-

• LEAVING THE PRACTICE :- We will direct you on an exit route from the building , this may not be via the normal route, as we may at times , have to implement a ONE WAY system out of the surgery , allowing you to leave in a manner which maintains social distancing.  We have had new gates etc installed to allow for this.  A proper pathway to the front gate from the main surgery will not be in place by the time we open , and we will be getting this done as soon as we can. Please bear with us !!

• PAYMENT :- We will be trying to maintain minimal time in the building and as such we will ask for payment remotely where possible . You can return to your car and pay by phone by card or we can give you the BACS details for a direct payment. Cash will be accepted but only in the correct amount and in a sealed bag where it can be left for 72 hours , this obviously raises a number of issues and requires mutual trust !

If you’ve got a complaint … please tell us , and we’ll do our best to sort it out .. if we don’t sort it out , tell your family and friends we didn’t .. if we get it right though , please tell them we did !

Google Reviews:-  If we get it right wed ask you to add to our Google Reviews as well please .

https://www.google.com/search?q=cygnet+house+dental+studio+ltd&oq=cygnet+house+de&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j0l6.4202j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x47d7d99d627c289d:0xaf5f6fa79467425f,3,,,

Most importantly , we will do our utmost to provide you with the high levels of dental care you’ve always had from us , we’ll be as personal as we can , and hope to still enjoy a joke and bit of a giggle with you as always . If anything above causes you any concerns , or you have any suggestions as to how we can make things better ( this is a learning curve for us as well ) then please feel free to email us , or ring us.

THANKYOU FOR READING THIS LONG LETTER AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU !

***IF YOU HAVE AN APPOINTMENT IN THE NEXT 48 HRS  PLEASE  FILL IN THE ONLINE COVID FORM AT THE END…  BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE AN APPT IN THE NEXT 48Hrs ***  THANKYOU.

Team Cygnet ! xx