I had an appointment for a dental check-up today, at 9 a.m which is in exactly 26 minutes from now. Why are you sitting writing a blog post, I hear you say. Shouldn’t you be heading off into town, to park up and walk to the surgery because they have no parking at their practice and therefore you have to factor in parking and walking time? Well, firstly this is not a blog post - it is a rant. And secondly, I shall now tell you…
My check up appointment was made at the end of January following the check up I had then. My dental surgery is keen for its patients to visit every six months but I think a nine month gap between check ups is quite adequate, thank you, especially as my surgery has a habit of cancelling appointments at the last minute and the rebook they offer is usually a couple of months further down the line anyway. They initially offered me an appointment on 2nd November, which is my birthday. I said that a visit to the dentist wasn’t high on my list of fun birthday activities and the receptionist laughed and made the appointment for a week later. In hindsight, I am glad, because it tipped it down with rain on my birthday and I’d have got drenched walking to the surgery, on account of their lack of parking facilities. I digress.
Three weeks ago I received a text reminding me I had an appointment at 9 a.m on 9th November. Ten days ago, I received an email reminding me I had an appointment at 9 a.m on 9th November and that I needed to fill in the attached forms online and return them, along with a confirmation that neither I nor anyone I’ve been in contact with has had covid in the last 10 days. Well, I am pretty sure I haven’t had covid but I can’t be so sure about all the other germy people who’ve been in my vicinity. Two days later, Andy came down with some horrid coughy, sniffy bug. I don’t know if it was covid. Seemed like what we used to call, in the old days ‘a chesty cough’. I haven’t caught it. He says he is feeling much better today so hurrah for that.
I duly filled in the forms, even though nothing has changed since my last visit when I filled in these forms, which was in June because I lost a bit of back tooth filling and it needed replacing. £125 they charged me for that. £125 for a chuffing replacement filling. I think their forms should have a box to tick that says, ‘No changes since last visit.’ That’d save ten minutes of my time.
Two days ago, I received a text reminding me I had an appointment at 9 a.m on 9th November. I was jolly glad I was receiving these reminders because, despite the fact the appointment is written on my calendar and in my diary, I might well have forgotten. (Pah!) That was sarcasm, by the way. It’s one of my less pleasant traits which rears its head every now and again. I can’t help it - well, I can but it would mean fighting my genetic make up and I really don’t think I have the strength at the moment.
And then, Dear Reader(s) this morning, at 8.03 a.m - 57 minutes before my appointment and just as I was getting ready to leave the house - I received this text message:
“Mrs Denise Hunt. Sorry! We need to cancel your appointment on 09/11/23. Please call The Dental Practice to arrange an alternative.”
Seriously??? You couldn’t make it up. Also, my surgery is actually called ‘The Dental Practice.’ You’d think, in this day an age, they’d have come up with something more witty. Like ‘The Whole Tooth’ or ‘Tooth Hurty.’
Now, all the reminders I received came with the addendum that if I couldn’t attend the appointment, I MUST give 24 hours notice or I MIGHT be charged a cancellation fee. And the surgery waiting room walls contain posters that state if you don’t visit your dentist for two years, then you will be deregistered as a patient.
But it’s okay for them to cancel appointments with less than an hour’s notice.
The problem is, I am stuck. There are no NHS dentists available in my area, so I have to go private. I have to dance to their tune because if I don’t I shall be without a dentist. And at my age, being registered with a dentist, no matter how extortionate their prices, is one of those services you need on standby.
Update: the surgery receptionist has just phoned, all apologies and baby-voiced because that’s the correct approach when having to appease an irked client. She has made me an appointment for Monday 8th January. Almost a year since my last check up…
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