Dental receptionist - Was there any need for this?

[applesandorangejuice]

Hi everyone, I've just had a very unpleasant phone call with the receptionist at my dentists office. I've been with them for a few years now. I know how lucky I am to have a dentist, especially with the NHS and as such I've never cancelled, rescheduled or been late to an appointment.

Anyway, I've had terrible tooth ache since Monday night. I've been monitoring it, taking painkillers and hoped it would go away on its own. This particular tooth can be sensitive at times, however it hasn't stopped on this occasion and seems to be getting worse.

I phoned the dentist this morning to ask for an appointment and before I'd even had a chance to finish my sentence/explain what was wrong, the receptionist cut me off and said "well it's no good phoning now, why didn't you phone on Monday?" I replied "Ok, well I wanted to see how I got on. The tooth can be sensitive sometimes and the pain never usually lasts this long". She ignored me and offered me an appointment on Monday.

I'm travelling for work on Monday and had totally forgot so I apologised and said "I'm so sorry, Monday is the only day I can't do because I have a work trip and I can't cancel it at such short notice, do you have any other days available?". She then said, quite sarcastically "we don't, no. Look I've offered you an appointment on Monday and you don't want it". I told her it wasn't because I didn't want it (of course I want to get it sorted) but that I was going to be 6 hours away and couldn't come without cancelling the entire trip. She then managed to find me another slot on Wednesday.

I'm very grateful for the appointment obviously, but was there any need for this attitude/unpleasantness? I know how much shit nurses/receptionists put up with from patients at times. But this woman just seemed gunning for an argument as soon as she answered the phone.

Receptionist wasn’t very professional. I caveat that with

Dentist don’t keep appointments back for emergencies - if they did they loose money as they need to treat the NHS patient.

You probably weren’t the first one to call, and you don’t know (not that it makes it right) the abuse they may have already received from someone demanding an urgent appointment that morning. The best ones often are haven’t been in over 2 years and about to go on holiday and has a tooth ache - screaming at you for not being accommodating.

When you have squeezed an urgent apt in, the dentist runs late and you get abuse from the person whose appointment isn’t on time. Then the dentist complains that the urgent apt squeezed in wasn’t really urgent and you should have triaged and pushed back.

Usually minimal wage and you can’t win - sometimes it can overwhelm with the amount of abuse and can’t win :( especially when the person starts a sentence with I entitled and we pay your wages …..

I don’t think it was right but you were probably not the first person asking to be seen urgently (Friday especially)

The receptionist at my dentist are surprisingly lovely - a big contrast to the ones at my GP surgery. Unfortunately it’s the dentist who doesn’t listen and seem to want to just unnecessarily pull teeth instead of treating them.

I agree with this and frankly would have phoned earlier in the week.

I have had severe toothache once. It was over a bank holiday weekend. My dentist does emergency call outs and opened up the practice for me on the Monday morning. Thankfully I had the £300 to pay him to do so. I was in so much pain I'd have paid £1000.

I can see both sides to the op's situation. If it were a dental emergency, she couldn't have managed the work meeting on Monday.

She was rude yes

however if you call and say ‘I am in pain’ they will expect you to drop everything to be there
and there is usually spaces available’ ‘on the day only’ meaning they aren’t allowed to book you in on another day

rudeness however isn’t acceptable

Exactly, you go into the nhs with the aim of trying to help people, you don't go into it thinking 'I'm going to be super rude because that's how I get my kicks'. But we are all human, with emotions, and the moment I stop feeling and caring is the moment I quit my job.

I never said it was ok, I agreed she was very rude. But I suggested that it might be nice to give her some grace as OP ultimately got what she needed.

No need at all and they will usually have emergency appointments blocked out this used to be part of the NHS contract we used to remind reception and dentists they wouldn't have a job if people didn't attend and if they're rude they aren't going to want to

No , emergency slots are not booked out because at this time of the year NHS dental practices are mostly working at full tilt trying to hit their treatment targets so they don’t get money clawed back , so cannot have empty slots in the day , in case people do not turn up. Around 40% of new patient toothaches on the NHS fail appointments.
Alternatively some practices have run out of funding and , despite promises earlier in the year, cannot see anymore NHS patients. This has happened a lot this year because much publicised government incentives for dentists to see more new patients , there was no more money for this , it came out of existing contract value so money has run out faster than this year.

You obviously do not understand dental contracts as they have always been based on piecemeal payments , so dentists have never needed reminding they need to see patients to be paid. Other than what a practice is paid to see patients there is no other funding . Every single practice payment comes out of treatment fees . No one gets paid unless there is a patient in the chair.

Unfortunately the NHS is run by people on salaries who have no idea of the rate a practice has to work at and the toll it takes on those working there. Instead you get helpful suggestions of “just see more patients” or “do more treatments” and offers we have made , in the past , to actually visit a NHS practice to see why that is an insensitive, stupid and unethical thing to say , have been turned down.

yes but what does her taking her frustration out on OP actually solve?
can OP go back in time and ring on Monday? No
Can OP cancel the commitments she has on the following Monday? No
So being rude did nothing other than annoy a customer and prolong the conversation.

Even if the receptionist was frustrated (although I still don't understand why she apparently took it so personally, it's not like she is living with the pain or having to reorganise her life, it literally makes no difference to her whether OP was seen last week, this week or next year) everything she did beyond just finding OP the next appt that OP could make was only causing her and OP more frustration.

If she'd just booked OP in for weds without all the arguing and inquisition and moaning, she would have got off the phone with an "frustrating" patient earlier, thus mitigating her own annoyance and resulting in a satisfied customer.
Whereas the way she did it she wound herself up more, likely delayed other people waiting for appointments/to be checked in AND annoyed OP = lose, lose, lose scenario.

Even ignoring the fact that a key element of her job should be to provide good (or at least decent) customer service, she was basically making her own life harder than it needed to be.

I mean, the point stands either way. Businesses work for their customers. Nobody should tolerate being spoken to like that by a receptionist of a business providing a service they are paying for.

I don't understand this as dentists keep a few appointments back for emergencies on the day.
They should have seen you today.
Obvs we never heard her speak but if it's as you said she was very rude. Complain.

Life's easier when your nice.

If someone doesn't have the personality for being a receptionist, they really shouldn't choose that job. There's no good excuse for being rude and argumentative with someone who's in pain. They're paid to exercise self-control and be patient with the public. It's not always easy, but if they can't manage better than this person did, they should find a job that doesn't require so much social interaction.

Doesn’t excuse rudeness!

Quite.

I live in a big US city now where healthcare providers aren't complacent with their patients because there's fierce competition and the patient can easily go somewhere else.

Whatever one might think of the US healthcare system, once you get access to healthcare, it is unbeatable.

The difference between the way I am treated here vs in the NHS, and frankly even in the private sector in the UK (I had private medical insurance for the last few years of living in the UK), is night and day.

I had a fracture and was able to see a GP, an urgent care facility (to get an x-ray) and then an orthopaedic consultant in the space of 3 hours, and everyone was incredibly friendly, from the receptionist to the surgeon.

My last experience with the NHS was a gynaecologist in North London who had the worst bedside manner I had ever come across. She was practically a sociopath.

Ours may be different as we have end of year UDAs so block out emergency slots I've done dental for 26 years hence why I'm now a compliance manager but yes we are stretched to the max which is why I help 32 practices

No they are not, not in the last decade! I have to pay private for my 5 year old.

She was rude. OP get clove oil (from a health shop) until you get your appointment it's a bloody godsend for tooth pain.

Most areas the commissioning groups have told practices that there are no more UDAs despite them being promised earlier in financial year . The money from dentistry is now being used to prop up health service elsewhere.

The change in contracts to prioritise new patients is taken out of existing contract values so many ,many practices have run out of UDAs and those that haven’t are running like mad to avoid clawback.

It is in this high pressure environment that clinicians and people dealing with public in the practice day in and out are feeling stressed,particularly at this time of year . Fortunately, as a compliance manager, you are insulated from the clinical and reception realities and telling people that practices will have daily toothache slots , when the reality is most will not at this time of year , is another pressure on reception and clinical teams that is not necessary .

Do not , ever , recommend Clove oil to be used in the mouth. It is an acid , many are allergic to it and I have had to remove teeth where it has burned down to the bone. Here is a photo of a clove oil burn. The only place it belongs is in the bin . https://images.app.goo.gl/vZDa3FpJTQutm7kR9

Unfortunately there is no legal mechanism to force commissioning groups to provide NHS dentistry. Indeed this year money is being directed away from dentistry to prop up overspends elsewhere in the health service.

So although people can use NHS dentists, where available, there is no legal compunction for the NHS to provide funding for a NHS dental service.

From a healthy food shop? I also discussed it with my dentist who confirmed it was a natural anesthetic but they could have been wrong?? It just numbs the pain, my sister gave it to me Christmas before last It saved Christmas day for me! But it did seem to good to be true.... so I'm inclined to believe you.

Yes I can show you many more photos . Eugenol, which is the active ingredient is a natural anaesthetic but diluted down , placed inside a tooth , with other ingredients like zinc oxide . Placed on the gum it burns . Here is an extract as to why you should never use clove oil in the mouth

Side effects of clove oil repeated or frequent use inside the mouth and on the gums can have side effects. This is because clove oil is toxic to human cells.
Clove oil may cause irritation or damage to the:
gums
tooth pulp
other soft tissues inside of the mouth
Consuming clove oil can also be dangerous — high levels are toxicTrusted Source to the liver and kidneys. It is possible to overdose, and children are especially vulnerable because they have smaller bodies.
Overdose of clove oil can cause:
agitation
severe low blood sugar
slow or shallow breathing
jaundice
decrease in consciousness
coma
Pregnant or breastfeeding people should not use clove oil. It is also important to keep essential oils out of the reach of children and pets.

Dammit!! OK I'll bin it! :-)

No they don’t. In order to pay staff and overheads you can’t have empty surgeries waiting for emergencies. Also as has previously been said most practices are fully booked over the next couple of months completing treatment courses to meet targets. Many have already hit target so are either taking advantage and heading off to the ski slopes or a decent holiday before the whole cycle starts again. Some will continue to see patients but then hold back the UDAs and claim them next financial year but then that compounds the problem next year and is frowned upon by the commissioning staff.

My DSis is taking March off and volunteering with one of the dental charities abroad.
I retired from NHS a couple of years ago after 35+ yrs NHS service. I work one day a week seeing private patients and wish I’d given up NHS years ago. I really enjoy the job, I can give patients the time and quality materials that I couldn’t under this ridiculous contract. I don’t earn a lot more money but I now have my sanity back.

Unless the NHS changes there will be no NHS dentistry in 5 yrs. Most of my generation are retired. Young dentists are leaving in their droves so the reality is that you can’t access NHS dentistry anymore.
The NHS site actually talks about access rather than entitlement.
The cost of running a practice is astronomical, the real time cuts to NHS funding mean that most dentists are working for significantly less money than 20 yrs ago. New graduates have massive student loans, it’s a five year course and the natural progression to owning your own practice is a pipe dream for many. An average 3-4 surgery practice will cost you over a million pounds and then, since many NHS practices have had little profit to reinvest, you may be looking at a further 500k to update and re equip.
A dental chair alone will cost 20k to buy and install. A full surgery is a minimum of 50k.
Only the other day we costed out how much we needed to turnover just to keep a surgery running and it was well over £100 an hour. That is just to pay staff and overheads. To pay ourselves you would need to turnover £150-200 if you factor in lab bills and materials.

Sorry but it's like that at mine, if your a registered patient they keep a few emergency appointments.
I have experience of this.

I'm.still a dental nurse aswell i have to be so i can step in