Very poor treatment and waiting times
I am writing to formally express my dissatisfaction with the service I received during my visit to Bank Parade Dental Clinic on the 13th November 2024. I was expecting a professional and efficient service, but unfortunately, my experience fell far short of these expectations. Specifically, I encountered the following issues during my appointment: I was waiting for more than an hour to be seen and was in the presence of my young child. I thought I would be running late for my appointment so gave the practise a courtesy call but due to my luck I came on time to see the dental hygienist. If I was an hour late I’m sure bank parade would have cancelled my appointment but they expected me to wait an hour for them to catch up where there was obvious delays. The dental hygienist had recently broken her shoulder so this was the reason why she was running behind. To my knowledge if you know your member of staff is struggling to meet the time demands and taking longer on appointments because of her injury then allow longer for appointment slot times and not make patients and their children suffer around this. I was also faced with unprofessional behaviour by the receptionist and Dr [nname redacted for privacy] himself. They both were not apologetic for the delay and told me I was told the dental hygienist was running late and my only option was to rearrange then. However, there was not a time frame that was given to me regarding the delay, you would assume a 10-15 minute delay. However, an hours delay should’ve been relayed to me over the phone when I rang up before my appointment and this was not communicated. If it had I would have not set off on my journey and cancelled my appointment if receptionist [name redacted for privacy] had notified me. This is something the receptionist and team could improve on going forward to call and let patients know ahead of time if there is going to be over a 15 min delay to be seen to. This will overall improve patient satisfaction. When I was eventually seen to by the Hygienist again there was no apology. I was expecting a “I’m very sorry I was running behind today and I know you've been cancelled on before….” There was no apology instead the impression was that they expected their patients to wait no matter how long they took. I think the staff need reminding that we book appointments to fit in with our day and families and work schedule not bank parades poor time keeping skills and patient treatment. The dental hygienist also commented on my son in his pushchair as he was crying loads due to having to wait for hours and he himself was becoming distressed as the practise is not child friendly and did not have access to pushchair etc (I had to carry it up the stairs). She commented that he was crying loads because he was warm in his jacket however, as his mother and my mother instinct I knew this was down to purely the fact that we were waiting for over an hour and a half to be seen. If I was seen at the time 12:30pm that was agreed and booked and not 14:15pm then my son wouldn’t have been crying loads and irritated and I know that because I am his mother. I did not appreciate this comment from the member of staff who caused the delay and therefore poor patient experience. Your number one priority should be accommodating and providing for your patients who come to see you for the best of care but this was not delivered. I found this experience particularly disappointing because it had an impact on me, my care, my child and both our wellbeing. It caused unnecessary stress and it did not meet the quality of care I expected. I believe that all patients should receive quality service in a respectful and professional environment, and my visit did not reflect those standards.