30/11/2021
Dear all, I thought it might be useful to provide an update on developments at Appletree Dental Care. We continue to work well with Covid Standard Operating Procedures with minimal cancellation impact across all surgeries.
Our big news this festive season is the recently announced and imminent April 2022 departure of Dr Robert Kirke who plans to emigrate with his young family to his wife’s native USA. We are extremely sad to be losing the skills and wonderful humour of Rob, a very caring dentist who has been a credit to our practice these last several years.
Our sadness, however, is tempered with the realisation that he faces an amazing opportunity across the pond whilst embarking on his Masters, having passed his Board examinations.
Haste ye back Rob, whenever you get the opportunity. We look forward to hearing of your future successes.
Many of you will have now realised the huge effect that longer appointments and increased demand are having on patients and staff alike. We are working more than ever into lunch hours and evenings, receiving a much greater volume of work on referral from outlying practices. Please bear with us should you be required to wait several weeks for your next appointment.
Deposits must be taken for all treatment appointments to mitigate the effects of isolation and covid. We recommend that all bookings are sequenced at the start of your treatment plan.
The current and ongoing situation means that we will no longer be registering new NHS patients in our Glasgow practices. I plan to introduce two replacement dentists in place of Dr Kirke which will hopefully reduce the waiting times.
All of our registered NHS patients will be seen by the new arrivals from April 2022, with the exception of my own family and friends who will be seen by me at the Crystal practice.
Our new associates will offer NHS emergencies as normal. NHS treatment will be offered by each NHS dentist on two separate mornings which will not clash with the alternative associate’s sessions. This system will hopefully maximise the available days for NHS treatment.
We are putting this system in place to allow us to deal with the procrastination of the Scottish Government in regards to a New Model of Care.
Our associates continue to receive £5 for a small NHS filling. They (and the supporting staff, who receive the other £5 allocated), are better than that. Under the current system, there can be very little focus on prevention, advice and oral health.
I am aware that we have thousands of visitors to webour sites each month and would be most grateful if you might correspond with your MSP regarding this- on behalf of all NHS patients, especially children and those in deprived areas.
Finally, I would like to thank all of our patients for their continued loyalty, word of mouth referrals and kind online reviews. Have a wonderful festive season,
Kind Regards
Brendan Murphy
