02 / 04 / 2020

Measures We’ve Taken in Response to COVID-19

To our Patients and Friends of Sutton Clinic

We would like to thank you for your understanding, for the need to temporarily close the practice, so that we can do our part in reducing the risk of spreading the virus.

We apologise if this causes any inconvenience and promise to be back at work providing the level of care that we have always done, as soon as possible.

For those patients that have had appointments cancelled during this time, we have placed you on our priority list, and will arrange to contact you immediately, once we are operational again.

We feel it is very important you maintain your membership with us during this time to ensure you continue to receive the usual benefits of your health check and hygiene appointments once we re-open, along with your 20% discount off any treatment you may require.

Also please remember your membership is there to look after you 24 / 7 and not just when the practice is open as you are eligible to request assistance from the Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme (see scheme handbook for full list of the benefits), and from our in house emergency service, which forms part of your membership.

We are trying to be innovative and proactive by ‘thinking outside the box’ during these unprecedented times as to how we can best continue to serve our members, and provide even more value to your membership.

We are working around the clock to think of new ideas and also to ensure that communication to patients is accurate and up-to-date, in what is a rapidly changing situation.

With this in mind we are currently setting up a ‘blog’ on our website to provide regular updates. We are focused on creating a long term plan for your oral health during, what we all hope, is a short term crisis.

We have made arrangements to allow us to telephone triage patients who have a dental emergency. On calling our usual Practice number 0121 354 1922, you will be diverted to one of our clinicians for advice and support. If necessary, they may arrange a video call to better assess you. New legislation issued on 25th March 2020, prevents us from physically treating you at the Practice, however, we can help with advice, analgesics and antibiotics or refer you to a local treatment centre if appropriate.

We are also currently working on an online booking system, to allow you to arrange a time and date, for one of our clinicians to call you back and discuss your dental emergency. We expect this to be in place by Monday 30th March.

Should this situation force us to close for a more extended period of time, we would like to ensure you that although your appointments might not be 6 months apart, the Practice will endeavour to ensure all patients get the right number of appointments in a 12 month period once the COVID-19 situation is under control and the Practice can resume working normally.  We will be extending our working hours once we are fully operational, to help accommodate these appointments.

If for whatever reason this is not possible or inappropriate, we will add the “value” of your missed appointment(s) to your account, which can be used as credit against any treatment you may require, whitening or oral hygiene products.

We are also looking at putting together videos, podcasts, e-shots, etc offering advice on dental and oral care, which we will be sharing on our social media channels of Facebook and Instagram.

Please note these benefits can only be made available to patients with an active membership with the Practice, and once we are fully operational, our priority will be to serve these patients first to ensure they have received the full benefits of their membership.

Regrettably if patients don’t have an active membership, when we are fully operational, we feel it would be unlikely to gain an appointment within 3 months, as active members will take top priority.

Please contact us if you require any assistance or more information and we will be happy to discuss this further.

Thank you again for your support and understanding during this difficult time, and please stay safe. Together we will get through this!

Best Wishes

Puneet Jain & Sutton Dental & Implant Clinic Team