Nile Street Dental Practice - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled NO Covid-19 precautions in tiny, stuffy waiting area
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 10 April 2022
Contrary to the practice's claims in answering an adverse review about this subject in November 2020, I was not told about or asked to give any Covid-relevant details before attending. The only reminder was by telephone, not text and the caller said nothing about taking a test, wearing a mask or any other precaution to avoid infection. The street door bears notices requiring patients to wear a face covering and stay 2 metres apart but these requirements are not enforced in any way. No attempt was made by the unmasked receptionist to get barefaced patients to wear masks. The waiting area is tiny (barely 3 metres square) and is entirely unventilated, except when the street door is opened by patients coming in or leaving. It is very stuffy and hot, even on a mild spring day. The only radiator is on the waiting area side of the partition to the receptionist's desk/office area and she complained that "it's freezing" (quite untrue) when I held the street door open to introduce some fresh air after a third and then a fourth patient came into the waiting area, one of whom was sniffling constantly. None of the other patients wore a mask. To treat the waiting area as a convenient heat source for a receptionist who wasn't wearing a jacket or sweater is a nonsense. She may be safe from airborne infection behind her partition but waiting patients need to be kept safe from that hazard, too. Infection rates are sky-high at present, so the practice should be taking active precautions to ensure patient safety and health in the waiting area, where every patient has to stay for however long it takes before the dentist is ready to see them. In my case, I arrived a minute before a 10am appointment but was not seen for some 20 minutes. I had taken an LFT test (which was negative) an hour earlier but no-one asked me about that, let alone requiring each patient to have done the same. There is a poster on the noticeboard in the waiting area about the safety managers who are currently supposed to be advising the practice about health and safety issues. Two years into this pandemic, those supposed safety experts should have ensured that the dental practice's public area was kept safe for patients to wait in and proper precautions taken to ensure that no patients come to the practice who are infected or might be carrying infection. What else are they charging ongoing fees for at this period?
Visited April 2022
Review titled Nile Street Dental Practice
Replied on 12 April 2022
Dear Patient, Thank you for your feedback. I would like to take the time to respond to your comments. We have a sign displayed clearly on the front door asking patients to wear a facemask in the waiting area, however some patients are exempt and not all exemptions are visible. The receptionist is not required to wear a facemask as she is behind a protective screen. All our staff wear protective masks when moving around the premises and when in direct contact with patients. I agree we have a very small waiting area and unfortunately this is out of our control. You may have noticed there is an air purifier in the corner of the waiting room to help make the environment as safe as possible. Patients are not obligated to take tests prior to their appointments and this has never been in the NHS England Standard Operating Procedures for dental practices. We ask the Covid related questions over the telephone and patients are advised if there any changes to them and if any symptoms arise, they must notify us. The updated guidance does relax the regulations in dental practices however we are still enforcing some measures to keep the environment as safe as possible for both patients and our staff. We always aim to see patients on time for their appointments which helps to minimise the time they are sat in the waiting room but unfortunately on this occasion the dentist was running late due to unforeseen circumstances which can happen. We did not ask if you had taken an LFT as this is not a requirement although we do appreciate that you took the time to do one. We have never charged any additional fees since the pandemic for PPE and you will be able to see this from your invoices paid that you have been paying NHS fees which are set by NHS England. We have worked hard throughout the pandemic to provide accessible dental care to our patients and you have been seen regularly throughout this period for your examinations and any emergency appointments. I am sorry that you have felt it necessary to leave a negative review for this one appointment where your dentist was running late. Nevertheless we appreciate your feedback and will endeavour to continue to work hard to provide a service to our patients. If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me by email on nilest.dental@gmail.com