L A Southworth Dental Surgery

Love the practice staff, although I feel since the pandemic you get less for your money. E.g. no clean and polish included in the check up or sample toothpastes are never available now. I have been going there for years. I was just disappointed by the level of cleanliness. Entered the practise and saw an extremely dusty hand sanitizer container; it was obvious that it hadn't been cleaned for a while. In the downstairs waiting room there was a lonely looking board for kids to play with, with abandoned tissues. I wish I could post the pictures as I took them! It's not a very inviting practise so good to read that they're going to be renovating.

I went in for my appointment with the hygienist just to be told that she’s actually working at their other practise. They told me that it’s a mistake on their behalf and they forgot to contact me to let me know beforehand. How can you just forgot to inform your patients? Wasted 1 hour of my time for me just to be told to go back home because it was too late for me to go to the other practise now anyways. Will definitely be registering at a different practise

The new corporate management has forgot that efficiency at the cost of customer service loses confidence in your practice. Before the takeover there was usually someone to answer the phone now that there are too few staff they never answer the phone and you always have to leave a message.

Update: 1 week after leaving a message there's still no reply.

Update 2: I have never missed an appointment and never been late but now their new system wants payment before the appointment. That's efficiency for a place that can't answer the phone.

New dentist Dr Shazeb. Excellent care and empathy. My dad had dentures fitted. He took the teeths out with care. Even calling day later to see how he was. Never known a dentist to do that. Arranged quick appointments due to my dads age. Can't thank him enough excellent work and service Thank you.....

I saw Dr. Merve a couple of weeks ago and I am super impressed with the professionalism and patient care I received. I got a white filling done on a tooth that was very badly decayed and she saved my tooth. It was a lovely experience overall!

First of all I’d rather have given no stars but had to put one.

Would definitely not recommend this practice to anyone ever! Absolute waste of time, the staff are useless and do not help. Staff put patients on hold and make them wait at the reception desk whilst they look through takeaway menus for dinner whilst on shift!
SHOCKING.

it’s not the same since the new company took over. Reception staff need to go through training again as I don’t think they know how to give good service to the patients. When you try and call you can never get through and always goes to leave a message, when you do get through to someone they don’t let you speak and always end up terminating the call.

I’ve put a complaint in because I am disgusted with they way they treat patients and instead of dealing with the situation they discard you from the practice list 👍🏻 extremely frustrating.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME
WITH THIS PRACTICE.

29/12/22 - yet another appointment cancelled and no explanation given!! I emailed patient services 3 weeks ago regarding my complaint and have had no response. This place should be ashamed of the way they treat their patients.

If I could have given less than one star then that’s what they’d be getting!
They claim to strive to provide the best service for their patients, yet time and time again, they have fallen way short of of the standards required!
Having waited months for an appointment for my mum who is really struggling, they then cancelled it without any reasonable explanation! When I eventually received a call back (which is a shambles in itself), the receptionist was far less than helpful, would not allow me to explain the situation, and terminated the call when I asked her not to keep speaking over me and to let me explain!
I was not abusive over the phone, therefore cannot comprehend this at all! I would request that the call recording is listened to and appropriate training provided to the staff.
You are failing your patients.
Furthermore, I would like to make an official complaint - please do let me know your complaints procedure. I have tried to telephone to ask what the complaints procedure is, but surprise surprise - nobody there to answer the call!

I have just received yet ANOTHER text to inform me my upcoming appointment has been cancelled. I have almost been waiting for this message to come through given that this is the third appointment to be cancelled since July, with little to no explanation as to why. No continuity in patient care. On the rare occasions my appointments have been upheld I have never seen the same dentist twice. When I initially phoned after the pandemic to rebook I was told there was no record of my details despite having cancellation texts on my phone. If only I could find another NHS dentist with space available.