Emergency Advice
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Dental Protection believe in always giving you the best advice. To help us do this we may monitor and record our calls for training and quality purposes. Please remember to protect your patient’s privacy by not revealing their identity during the call or in email correspondence unless we specifically ask.
Our emergency advice helpline is not designed to deal with queries about payments, existing cases or membership categories. These enquiries should be made when the office is next open or by email using the details on the
Contact page.
More about emergency advice
Occasionally an emergency will arise which needs support outside business hours and our on-call dentolegal consultants are happy to assist you in these circumstances, particularly if an urgent situation has arisen concerning the safety of patients or staff.
Some examples of emergency situations where out of hours support may be requested are:
- A serious untoward incident. This might be the death of a patient, or a serious medical event, such as a collapse associated with dental treatment. In such circumstances the police may become involved and members may be asked to provide a statement.
- Unexpected visits from or contact with the police, other authorities with powers of entry or the media.
Unexpected raids on the practice by the police or an arrest involving allegations of criminal activity or a problem directly or indirectly associated with professional misconduct and/or the practise of dentistry are rare - but we can provide emergency advice about how to react to such an event. Once further details of the case emerge, decisions can be made about the level of ongoing assistance (if any) we can provide. Please note that issues of personal conduct unrelated to the practise of dentistry would not normally fall within the scope of our assistance.
We appreciate that some discussions are more easily undertaken away from the practice and therefore out of clinic hours. However, without access to our office systems, out of hours calls about ongoing support will be of limited benefit.
Whilst we are committed to providing emergency advice out of hours, members are asked to discuss all non-emergency issues during office hours.
Confidentiality
Seeking advice during office hours avoids the potential problems of conversations with a consultant being overheard, as our consultants may be working outside of an office environment when they receive a call. Clearly discussing sensitive issues in a public space could compromise confidentiality, so sometimes it will be necessary for the consultant to return your call at a mutually convenient time.