"Some good amongst the bad"

I was referred here for a tooth extraction by my dentist.

I was phoned out of the blue by somebody from their referrals management team demanding personal details from me so they could book an appointment for me at "the treatment centre" . They wouldn't disclose what the appointment was for or any further details and was verging on rude. When this member of staff finally told me where they were calling from I was happy with the waiting time for the appointment. However I asked them to enclose comments/complaints information to me which was not done.

On the day of my consultation I was extremely anxious and had said on my pre-assessment form that I would prefer to have the extraction under general anesthetic due to previous experiences with wisdom tooth extraction under local. I was called in to see the oral surgeon before my x-ray and quizzed as to why I wanted general and told if I wanted general I would have to be referred to the RUH as they didn't do anything under general. The surgeon agreed to x-ray me when I said I would consider local with sedation if the extraction would be relatively straightforward.

The consultation following x-ray was very brief and whilst the surgeon answered my questions it felt like I was more of an annoyance to them as opposed to someone they wanted the best outcome for. The consultation didn't discuss any of the risks / benefits of what they proposed to do and left it to a HCA to give me an information leaflet on my way out.

My pre-op assessment was comprehensive, however there were other member of staff wandering through the room without knocking which was not very respectful to my privacy or dignity. My blood pressure was elevated during the assessment (I suffer from white coat hypertension) and I was told if it was that high on the day they may not operate. Having already been left feeling anxious after the consultation about the procedure this was not what I wanted to hear. I was told to bring a record of recent BP recordings but having spent time finding the out in the pre-assessment while I was ignore while the nurse typed into the computer it was dismissed. Following this I was escorted out to reception and made to do a friends and family test before I could book a day for the procedure.

I am glad that I didn't have to have the extraction here after all!

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this service due to;

Rude staff

Lack of dignity and respect

Lack of compassion