fbpx

Terms and Conditions

Home / Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

We are always pleased to assist our clients whenever we can. This document gives details of our terms and conditions of service. If, however, you have any queries or need clarification, please contact us on 0808 169 4546 and a member of staff will be happy to help you.

Please be aware that any information provided through any part of our website (examples: forum, blog, news, main site, live chat, phone, email, …)is governed by our Data Protection policy and will not be shared with a third party. No professional advice can be given without a clinical consultation with a dentist. For professional dental advice we strongly recommend that you see a dentist for full consultation.

At Home Dental provides all treatments on a private basis only. (Except Torbay and Exeter, Devon where there is an NHS contract for eligible patients)

Treatment plans and Estimates

Once your treatment plan has been agreed with our clinicians, we will provide printed details of your plan. If this plan changes due to radiographic or clinical findings, we will inform you and discuss this with you. Treatment plans and fees are valid for 90 days from the date the treatment was prescribed. If there are any points on your treatment plan that you wish to query, please do not hesitate to ask us, before the appointments for actual treatments are made.

Consent forms

Certain treatments require completion of a written consent form. This is in order to explain the treatment, aftercare and any risk to you thoroughly, before any of these treatments are carried out. This can also include verbal consent and the approval of an appointment on receipt of an estimate.

Consent for any treatment can be withdrawn at any point by the patient or dental professional.

Fees

We prefer fees for treatment to be paid up front unless otherwise agreed. In some cases which involve laboratory work we will request at least 50% payment up front. All accounts must be paid within 7 days of completion of treatment to prevent a potential 10% administration surcharge. (All NHS appointments require full payment before appointments – Torbay and Exeter, Devon only)

In cases where treatment is paid for on finance through a Finance company, please be aware that the finance agreement must be accepted and signed prior to the start of that treatment. Please note that finance is only available on treatments over £400, not including Emergency Dental Treatment, and that a minimum deposit may also be required.

At Home Dental reserves the right to charge time based deposits for booking future appointments. Deposits are deductible off the cost of treatment.

Payment methods accepted are:

  • Cash/cheque
  • Debit/Credit Card excluding American express
  • Stripe – online access through our secure link
  • BACS – bank details are provided on our invoice.

Please note that unpaid accounts are routinely referred to a Debt Collection Agency or the Small Claims Court, and we reserve the right to recover all costs incurred in doing so.

We reserve the right to ask for payment in full before beginning any treatment plan.

Late cancellation or missed appointments:

Cancellations and Failed Appointments: We require a minimum of 48 business hours notice for cancellation of any arranged appointment. When we schedule an appointment for a patient, we are booking the surgery time off for that patient’s treatment. Failure to give the appropriate notice of cancellation will result in a Failed Appointment Fee being charged. This fee is proportionate to the length of the appointment failed and is to cover the cost of the surgery time wasted.

Failed Appointment fees must be settled before any other appointment is offered. Please note that we cannot accept notice of cancellation by e-mail, text message, or answer phone message, as these are not screened daily.

At Home Dental reserves the right to charge the full cost of the treatment in the event of a missed appointment or an appointment cancelled with less than 24 hours notice. For appointments longer than 1 hour, we require at least 72 hours.

For missed appointments or short notice cancellations, we reserve the right to take a minimum of 50% deposit to book further appointments.

Please note: it is also down to the principals discretion if further appointments can be booked for any late cancellations or missed appointments.

Late for appointments:

We are a mobile dental service and unable to guarantee precise appointment times. We will endeavour to provide a time window for your appointments but this is not guaranteed. We reserve the right to rearrange appointments due to delays of our mobile team due to traffic, emergencies or staff illness without refund of any deposits but will rearrange the appointments. If the mobile team arrives at the patients appointment and are turned away for any reason the appointment fee will be charged.

Refusal to be seen or lack of cooperation:

We will charge a service fee and either a proportion of or the full fee for the appointment if the patient refuses to be seen or does not cooperate on the day of the appointment.

Personal Details:

It is very important that you give a full medical history and details of any medication you take. Should these change in any way, it is very important for you to tell your Dentist. It is the patient’s responsibility to inform the clinic of any changes in either personal details and/or their medical history. If there is a “do not resuscitate order” in place, this form must be presented to the dental team at each visit otherwise At Home Dental will not be able to comply to this request.

Guarantee:

At Home Dental  offer a 12 month guarantee for fillings, and crown and bridgework, provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. The patient has fully paid for the treatment and does not owe the practice any money for the treatment received.
  2. The restorations have not been damaged as a result of an accident, trauma or excessive grinding.
  3. The patient has followed all post treatment maintenance recommendations made by our dentists.
  4. The patient has attended and routine examination every 6 months.

Some treatments may have a guarantee of less than 1 year, and in this case you will be informed by your Dentist either verbally or in writing, or both.

Use of Images and X-rays:

At Home Dental may use images and x-rays of your smile and teeth only. We will seek your permission if we would like to use any images for marketing and educational purposes for use on the At Home Dental website, and on promotional and educational literature. Your name will never be published, and identity will never be disclosed.

Use of patient contact details:

At Home Dental puts the health of our patients as our highest priority, and we also like to keep our patients informed of various important changes at the clinic and of our latest special offers. We like to remind our patients of their appointments, when they are due for appointments, and other various important reminders. On this note, you may be periodically contacted by the clinic via phone, text, email or by letter in the post. If you DO NOT wish to be contacted by the clinic by any or all of these means, please let us know.

Complaint’s policy:

At Home Dental  always take complaints about any aspects of our services very seriously, in order to ensure that every patient has only the very best experience at all times.

Complaints can be made in writing by filling out a simple complaints form available from reception, or via email, by the patient or by an authorised person on the patient’s behalf. Complaints should be made to the ‘Complaints Manager’, and should be clear, so that they can be dealt with efficiently.

Every complaint will receive within 3 days,  written/email acknowledgment, and the Management will strive to resolve the complaint within a quick, reasonable period of time (usually about 2 weeks). For our full complaints procedure and policy, please ask a member of our reception team. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be acknowledged by the Management team and then referred to the treating Dentist. Please note that in these cases, At Home Dental accepts no liability on behalf of the treating Dentist/Dental therapist and acts as a liaison between the patient and the treating Dentist/Dental Therapist, only.

If you are unsatisfied with our internal handling of your complaint, you are free to forward your complaint to

For complaints about NHS treatment:
NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch B97 9PT (email: England.contactus@nhs.net); or
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank London SW1P 4QP (0345 015 4033 or www.ombudsman.org.uk).

For complaints about private treatment:
Dental Complaints Service, Stephenson House, 2 Cherry Orchard Road, Croydon
CR0 6BA (08456 120 540). www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk

General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London, W1M 8DQ

What happens if I prefer to complain directly to the commissioning organisation?

How you make a complaint about primary care services is changing on 1 July 2023

You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is written into the NHS Constitution on GOV.UK.

From 1 July 2023 the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner is changing.

 By primary care services we mean GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacy services.

There are two ways you can make a complaint:

  • You can complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery or dental surgery.
  • You can complain to the commissioner of the service: this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.

After 1 July 2023 if you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will now contact NHS Devon Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England.

Telephone: 0300 123 1672

E-mail: d-icb.patientexperience@nhs.net

Write to: Patient advice and complaints, NHS Devon, Aperture House, Pynes Hill, Rydon Lane, Exeter, Devon EX2 5AZ

If you want to make a complaint directly to the provider of the primary care service, you still can – that does not change on the 1 July 2023.

Members of the public with ongoing complaints received on/after 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that the ICB is now handling their complaint with confirmation of their case handler.

Members of the public with any ongoing complaints received before 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that their complaint is being retained by NHS England with confirmation of their case handler.

If you have any queries, please contact NHS Devon Integrated Care Board.

Find out more about how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service 

No tolerance/Abuse policy

We operate a zero tolerance policy to abuse to our Dentists and staff, loud/disorderly/drunken behaviour, persistent missing and late cancellation of appointments (after multiple warnings). In these situations, At Home Dental reserves the right to refuse treatment and attendance.

Data Protection Act:

We store all patient personal details on a secure computer system in accordance with the Data Protection Act & GDPR. All clinical notes, digital radiographs, digital photographs etc remain the property of At Home Dental. Copies of notes, radiographs and photographs can be made available on request, and we reserve the right to charge an administration fee for these.