Emergency dental services across north east London are currently provided by an out-of-hours telephone dental service and face-to-face consultations at two walk-in centres – one based at the Royal London Hospital and the other in Hornchurch at the South Hornchurch Clinic.
Patients can ring the out-of-hours service and speak to a dentist who may offer advice or an appointment at either of the dental walk-in centres, or patients can queue at the walk-in centres to be seen that evening or weekend.
Why do we need to make changes?
We know that most patients are happy with the treatment they receive when they access the emergency dental care services. However, we also know that some patients who have urgent dental needs are turned away because all the appointments have been taken. This is because there is no screening process in place at the walk-in centres so some of those appointments are taken by patients who have no urgent dental need.
How we propose to improve services
New screening service
In order to ensure that all patients who require urgent dental care get an appointment, we plan to introduce a new screening service. Patients calling the out-of-hours service or visiting the walk-in centres will be assessed to see if their dental problem is urgent.
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If the patient needs urgent dental care within 12 hours they will see a dentist at the urgent dental care centre.
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If the patient is assessed as needing care within 24 hours they will be given an appointment the next day at a local dental practice or at the weekend will be seen at the urgent dental care centre.
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If the patient does not have an urgent need, they will be given advice and information about local dental practices that provide NHS dental care.
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In exceptional circumstances patients who require immediate attention in order to minimise the risk of serious medical complications will be referred to accident and emergency.
In order to ensure that we have the most dentists on hand to deal directly with patients, qualified dental nurses will take responsibility for screening patients.
Change in hours
We plan to change the hours that urgent care dental services are available in order to ensure that patients can get help within a reasonable time.
Out-of-hours telephone dental service
| Proposed hours |
Present hours |
| Weekdays: 5pm – 9pm |
Weekdays: 6.30 pm – 10pm |
| Weekends: 9am – 7pm |
Weekends: 7.30 am – 3pm |
| Bank holidays: 9am – 7pm |
Bank holidays: 7.30am – 8pm |
Royal London Hospital walk-in urgent dental care services
|
Proposed hours |
Present hours |
| Weekdays: 6pm – 10pm |
Weekdays: 7pm – 11.45pm |
| Weekends: 10am – 2.30 pm and 4pm – 8.30pm |
Weekends: 8am – 5.15pm |
| Bank holidays: 10am – 2.30 pm and 4pm – 8.30pm |
Bank holidays: 8am – 2.30pm, and 4pm-10.30pm |
Hornchurch walk-in urgent dental care services
| Proposed hours |
Present hours |
| Weekdays: 6pm – 9pm |
Weekdays: 7pm – 10pm |
| Weekends: 10am – 2pm and 4pm-8pm |
Weekends: 10am – 1pm |
| Bank holidays: 10am – 2pm and 4pm-8pm |
Bank holidays: 10am – 1pm |
Improving communication
We plan to improve how we communicate with local people about dental services so that you know which NHS dentists in your area have appointments available for patients with urgent dental care needs. We also plan to make it easier for you to tell us if you have problems when trying to get an appointment with an NHS dentist.
Changing the name of the walk-in services
We plan to change the name of the services offered at the Royal London Hospital and South Hornchurch Clinic from ‘emergency dental services’ to ‘urgent dental care services’.
Patients have said that because the service is called ‘emergency dental services’ they think it will be open 24 hours a day and that it will be free. In both walk-in centres patients who are not exempt from charges pay the national minimum fee – £16.50 – for urgent dental care.
