Fined by Dentist

Toothsmith

donna-j wrote:

But then surely if you make an appointment at a specific time then the dentist is also responsible for keeping to it. Why shouldn't we fine them?

This is true, but would you really want the dentist to down tools and send you home before he had finished because it was the next patients turn now?

The way to run on time is to always book more time than you think you'll need, and to have gaps in the book to put emergencies.

If you do that though, then there will also be a lot of dead space in the day when things do run on time and emergencies don't happen.

That dead time therefore has to go on the bill of the people you do see.

Therefore practice management is a balancing act between keeping the costs to the patient down, and seeing enough people to pay all the bills. the tighter you run it, the more chance there is that you will run late, but the cheaper it is to the patient.

I would guess, on my own figures, that a dental practice costs about £200 per hour to keep running.

That can be brought down by employing poorly qualified staff, and using bargin basement materials, and only doing the minimum to stay the right side of all the regulations (Or even just straying over the line occasionally).

You can then achieve that hourly rate by cramming as many people into the hours as you can, or charging the full whack to the people you see in a nice steady well ordered session.

So, work out how long your appointment lasts (Including the time it takes to clean up the surgery ready for the next patient) and how much you pay, and see what rate the dentist is operating on.

If it's around the £200 per hour mark or more, and you're being kept waiting for more than 10-15 mins regularly. Then maybe you're not getting value for money.

If it's less than that, then the dentist is compromising waiting time against the fees that he is charging, and prehaps you souldn't complain too much.

Toothsmith

DrGrimson wrote:

Nevertheless, I don't think it is appropriate to make rude comments
about someone that you don't know, and have never met.

I was assuming she was genuinely sorry and respected the dentists time?

You're not calling your friend a little madam are you? :eek:

Toothsmith

Debras_Angel wrote:

However from what you say above they shouldn't have charged us under the new rules, is that right...this was the 5th June this year?

Debs

This is true if he's an NHS patient. New rules started on April 1st

It doesn't apply to private patients.


EDIT Look at page 7 of this Patient Information Leaflet

laughing_cow

I think it should work both ways - perhaps a discount if they can't stick to their appointment schedule. I left my previous dentist primarily because of their timekeeping and disrespect of their customers.

Once (and only once) I was ten minutes late for a hygienist appointment and only got 20 minutes instead of the full 30 - which is fair enough. However, on another occasion, they were running late and it wasn't until I had left the surgery that I realised that I had only been given 20 minutes - they had used my appointment to catch up.

On three other occasions I had early morning appointments so you would not imagine that they would already be running late at around 9.00am. The first one I waited for 25 mins because the dentist had not arrived. The second I waited 35 mins, seemingly because the dentist and her assistant were having a natter about the ending of a drama series on TV the night before (which I had seen and was rubbish anyway! ). On the third occasion, I had been waiting 30 minutes so I told the receptionist I had to leave. She asked me incredulously "why, where do you have to go to?" - erm, let's see, maybe I have a job to go to!

On not one of these occasions did anyone apologise or even warn me that my appointment would be delayed. If I go to the hairdressers and they're running late, they apologise in advance and offer a drink. I'm sick of the attitude that because it's something to do with the NHS then we should put up with bad service. It's as if we have to accept it because it's 'free' or low cost - well, it's not, we pay for it via our taxes - why should the service be so shoddy? And at this dentist, I rarely had anything on NHS anyway - their hygienist appointments cost £38 and I always paid for white fillings. :mad:

Rant over!

Toothsmith

This is a fair point, and I think you should look elsewhere.

Patients paying privately at an NHS practice get the worst of both worlds.

High 'Private' charges with rushed NHS 'cram 'em in' service, and staff that probably don't come out of the top drawer.

There are a few dental practices that need to realise that 'Private' doesn't just mean 'triple the price'

Debras_Angel

Toothsmith wrote:

This is true if he's an NHS patient. New rules started on April 1st

It doesn't apply to private patients.

Thanks Toothsmith,

I do agree that we should pay if we miss appointments, but this is the second time this particular dentist has done something untoward with us and that concerns me, when they knew that they couldn't/shouldn't charge us under the new rules!

They tried to make me go private a year or so ago by saying that I hadn't been to them for more than 15 months so they could take me of the NHS list.

Luckily for me I had a receipt and cheque stub to prove that I had been to them 10 months before so they 'reinstated me'. From what I can gather with other people in the practice they have done the same to them.

Do you think I should raise the charge with them at my next appointment?

Ta much

Debs

DrGrimson

Toothsmith wrote:

I was assuming she was genuinely sorry and respected the dentists time?

You're not calling your friend a little madam are you? :eek:

No, you are. And it's not a very nice thing to do.
The anonymity of the internet brings out the best in people, don't you think?

Toothsmith

Have you seen & read the leaflet I linked to?

I bet it's not available in their waiting room is it!!?

You could ring them and mention that you have seen a copy in your library, and it specifically says you can't charge for missed appintments and you'd like your money back.

I would do it sooner rather than later.

Be careful with future appintments though. a dentist can de-register you if you miss 2 or 3 depending on what he's agreed with his PCT. But then, the PCT won't know he's charging either!

Debras_Angel

Toothsmith wrote:

Have you seen & read the leaflet I linked to?

I bet it's not available in their waiting room is it!!?

You could ring them and mention that you have seen a copy in your library, and it specifically says you can't charge for missed appintments and you'd like your money back.

I would do it sooner rather than later.

Be careful with future appintments though. a dentist can de-register you if you miss 2 or 3 depending on what he's agreed with his PCT. But then, the PCT won't know he's charging either!

Thank You for this I'm printing it out and going to send them a letter with a copy of it...I'm getting angry now as we haven't missed an apointment before and could understand why they charge dif we had!!

Also they are telling everyone that they are going back to 6monthly appointments, or at least everyone that came in when I was there recently. They changed to yearly the year before...do you think that this is because of the new rules and they will make more money for 6 monthly appointments?

Debs

hjb123

I can understand that people should be fined for missing appointments - BUT have a warning system first - give them 1 warning when they miss the first appointment but if they miss a second then they should be fined.

However if they ring the surgery to say they were running late then thats not quite as bad - if the appointments not a long one they may be able to get the next person in before you.

Im with private dentist - dont have any choice really - and go every 3 months, one appoinment for checkup, then 3 months later for clean, then 3 motnhs for checkup etc.