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THE OAKS PRACTICE POLICIES 

Appointment Times 

Your dental appointment is reserved exclusively for you. We endeavour to be on time for your appointments and would appreciate your punctuality. 

For health and safety reasons, we like to ask that you do not bring young children/child who do not have appointments with us. Our staff cannot look after them and it will be difficult for you to undergo your dental treatment. 

Cancellation of appointments 

If you are unable to keep your appointment, please notify the surgery 24 hours in advance of your appointment. Due to the high demand for our appointments, we can charge a fee for the missed appointment. It will also be quite likely that you will have to wait for a replacement appointment. 

Payment of treatments 

We ask that all payment is paid in full before leaving the surgery. If you are having laboratory made items, we will ask for a deposit and the balance to be paid at the end of treatment. We accept cash credit or debit cards. 

Privacy 

All your information is handled with the strictest of confidence. No records may be forwarded to anyone else without your specific written consent. 

The Oaks Dental Practice data protection privacy notice for patients 

In providing your dental care and treatment, we will ask for information about you and your health. Occasionally we may receive information from other providers who have been involved in your care. Our privacy notice describes the type of personal information we hold, why we hold it and what we do with it. 

Brian O’Rourke is responsible for keeping secure information about you. Staff at the practice have access to your information, these will be dentists and other staff included in your care and treatment. Reception and administration will also have access. 

Brian O’Rourke ensures the practice complies with all data protection requirements to ensure that we collect, use, store and dispose of your information responsibly. 

You can contact our data protection officer BRIAN O’ROURKE at theoaksdental@btconnect.com 

Information that we hold 

We can only keep and use information for specific reasons set out by law. If we need to keep and use information about your health, we can only do so in particular circumstances. This is outlined below. 

Contact details 

We hold personal information about you including your name, date of birth, address, telephone number and email addresses. This information allows us to fulfil our contract with you to provide appointments. 

Dental records 

We hold information about your dental treatment and general health, these include: 

  • Clinical records made by dentists and other dental professional involved in your care and treatment 
  • X-rays
  • Clinical photographs of your mouth and teeth if required 
  • Medical and dental history 
  • Treatment plans and consent 
  • Notes of conversations with you about your care 
  • Dates of appointments 
  • Details of any complaints you have made and how these complaints were dealt with
  • Correspondence with you and other health professionals or institutions

This information is to allow us to fulfil our contract with you to discuss your treatment options and provide dental care that meets your needs 

Financial information 

We hold your information about fees paid and we hold no payment details. Please inform the reception team if your exemption or circumstances have changed before your appointment.

How we use your information 

To provide you with dental care and treatment that you require we need to have up to date and accurate information about you. We will share your information with the NHS only in connection with your treatment. We have CCTV at the practice for the purposes of patient and staff safety and crime prevention. Please see our policy for CCTV for further details and this is available on request. 

Sharing information 

Your information is normally used only by those working at the practice but there maybe instances where we need to use it – for example:

  • Your doctor 
  • The hospital community dental service or other health professionals caring for you 
  • Dental laboratories 
  • Private dental schemes of which you are a member 

Keeping your information safe 

We store your personal information securely on our practice computer system and in a manual filing system. Your information cannot be accessed by those who do not work at the practice; only those working at the practice have access to your information. They understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow practice procedures to ensure this. 

We take precautions to ensure security of the practice premises, the practice filing systems and computer. We use specialist dental software to record and use personal information safely and effectively. We keep your records for 11 years after the date of your last visit or until you reach the age of 25 years whichever is the longest. 

Access to your information 

As a patient, you have the right to access the information we hold about you and can request a copy of this at any time.

You can also request us to: 

Correct any information that you believe is incorrect or incomplete. If we have disclosed the information to a third party, we will inform them of the change. 

We can erase some of your information at your request. For legal reasons we will be unable to erase certain information like dental records, but we would be able to delete some contact details and other non-clinical information. 

We can stop using information if you believe the information is inaccurate or believe we are using your information illegally. 

You can ask us to supply your information electronically to other dentists. 

If we are relying on your consent to use your personal information for a particular purpose you may withdraw your consent at any time and we will stop using your information for that particular purpose. 

All requests should be made by email to our data protection officer BRIAN O’ROURKE at theoaksdental@btconnect.com 

If you do not agree. 

If you do not wish us to use your personal information as described, you should discuss the matter with your dentist. If you object to the way we collect your information, we may not be able to continue to provide your dental care. If you have concerns about how we use your information you should contact:

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. 

 0303 1231113 or 01625 525745