Our practice aims to provide dental care of a consistent quality, for all patients. We have management systems to help us, which define each practice member’s responsibilities when looking after you.

In proposing treatment, we will take account of your own wishes. We will explain options, where appropriate, and costs, so that you can make an informed choice. We will always explain what we are doing.

We will do all we can to look after your general health. We will ask you about your general health, and about any medicines being taken. This helps us to treat you safely. We keep all information about you confidential.

Contamination control is essential to the safety of our patients. Every practice member receives training in practice systems for contamination control. Wherever possible single use disposables are used. Reusable equipment is sterilised by autoclave. We will always be polite and courteous in our dealings with you and treat you with respect at all times. We expect the same consideration from our patients in return. We reserve the right to refuse to treat any patient who is abusive or discourteous to any member of staff.

Our normal payment procedure is to ask you to pay a proportion of the cost of your treatment at each visit. The final payment being due on your last appointment. We are happy to give estimates of the total cost of a course of treatment before that treatment begins, and will keep you informed of any changes as treatment proceeds. Patients can choose to pay by either cash, debit or credit card. We no longer accept personal cheques. Please note we do also have finance options available for treatments costing over £500. Please ask our reception team if this is of interest.

In the event that you wish to cancel or amend your appointment, we kindly ask for a minimum of 24 hours notice so that we can offer the appointment to someone else and maintain our practice efficiency. If you wish to cancel or re-schedule your appointment less than 24 hours prior to your appointment time, a charge of 50% of your appointment cost will be payable. Naturally, we do understand that cancellations may be necessary due to incidents or illness and we are willing to consider mitigating circumstances at the time. Please note that missed appointment charges are not a punishment - they are to cover the clinic running costs, which we still incur, even if a patient does not attend their appointment.

We cannot charge NHS patients for any late cancellation or missed appointments in accordance with NHS guidelines; however, if you have 2 missed appointments within a 12 month period then we reserve the right to ask a patient to find another dental practice.

If you need to cancel or amend an appointment, we ask that, in the first instance, you call the practice on 01256 762353 and talk to our reception team. If for any reason you can’t get hold of us please send an email as soon as possible to info@hookdental.com

Whenever possible, please contact us about emergencies during normal surgery hours. If you need to be seen the same day, please get in touch as early in the day as possible. In the case of an emergency out of hours, phone the number below, and you will be put in touch with our dedicated paging service where you can leave a message for the on-call dentist. If treatment is necessary, we will do our best to arrange it within 24 hours. Emergency Telephone (01256) 762 353.

The practice reserves the right to ask for a deposit for certain appointments. This may occur when booking new patient appointments, expensive treatments, longer appointments, or if you have failed to attend, or cancelled, a previous appointment with less than 24 hours notice. The deposit taken will be put towards the cost of your appointment charge, or retained if you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours notice, or fail to attend your appointment.

We aim to make your treatment as pleasant as possible every time you visit us. However, if you feel you have not been treated as you would have liked, or are dissatisfied with any aspect of our practice, we want to know. It is only through hearing from you that we can help and improve our service. Please mention your concerns in the first instance to your dentist. If they cannot be resolved immediately and to your satisfaction, we may request your comments in writing. This practice operates an in-house complaints procedure for both Private and NHS patients, which adheres to nationally agreed criteria. More information is available from reception.