The practice is committed to fulfilling a duty of care to protect staff and other patients. This policy defines the practice guidance for refusing access to patients to minimise potential risk to other patients and staff.
This policy applies to all team members, who are expected to familiarise themselves with the circumstances justifying the removal of patients from the list and appropriate procedures to follow.
In cases of:
- Unacceptable behaviour, including threatening behaviour, physical abuse, verbal abuse, race, gender or any other form of discrimination or other unreasonable behaviour
- Fraudulent or criminal behaviour, including deliberately obtaining drugs for non-medical reasons, attempting to use the dentist to conceal or aid criminal activity, stealing from practice premises
You are expected to take the following actions:
- Report any incident involving violence, fraudulent or criminal behaviour to the Practice Manager Natalie Ballantyne immediately, who will decide if it has to be reported to the police in accordance with the practice policy on Zero Tolerance on Violence and Aggression (M 233-VAW)
- Natalie Ballantyne will ask the patient to leave the premises immediately
- The incident will be discussed with the practice principal and if agreement is reached, the practice principal will inform the patient verbally and in writing confirming the refusal of access and including details of the reasons
Irreconcilable differences
When the relationship between the dentist and the patient breaks down to the point where the dentist no longer feels capable of providing a quality level of patient care and feels that the patient’s needs would be better served elsewhere, the following procedure is followed:
- The problem is reported to Natalie Ballantyne, who may consult the principal’s professional indemnity organisation to confirm the actions to be taken
- Natalie Ballantyne will then arrange for a meeting with the patient to discuss the matter and find out how the patient views the situation
- Natalie Ballantyne will arrange a management meeting to discuss the problem with the aim of solving it. If it is not resolved and no other dentist at the practice is prepared to provide services to the patient, Natalie Ballantyne will write to the patient to inform about removal of access, and fully explaining the reasons
Persistent missed appointments
When a patient fails to attend an appointment or cancels without giving 24 hours’ notice, the patient will be sent a letter or email informing about the date of the missed appointment/s and the consequences of missing multiple appointments, including the information in the next point:
- If a patient fails to attend an appointment or cancels without 24 hours’ notice three times, the patient may be informed that they will no longer have access to treatment at the practice