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Mar 11, 2010
Better dental services
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I COULDN'T agree more with Mr Lim Fah Kiong's sentiments about the inflexible dental service provided at polyclinics ("Dental service: Be proactive and flexible", Tuesday).
I believe the rule to limit the duration of an appointment for each patient is to improve efficiency and thus productivity. So, technically, patients should be attended to on time if they are punctual. However, it is common to wait 30 minutes or more. At my recent visit, I missed my turn a few times as I did not hear the chime.
By the time I realised my number had been called, another number was flashed for the same room I had been allocated. A man entered the room just ahead of me. I apologised to the dentist for missing the calls, but she insisted that since I missed my calls, she would have to attend to the next patient first as he was already in the room. I reasoned that I had waited 30 minutes already. In the end, the dentist agreed to treat me after checking that the next patient was agreeable. It made me wonder why the public announcement system was not used to call me when I didn't appear after a while. What if I was in the toilet?
When it came to booking my next appointment, I was not happy with being charged an $8 deposit. Why $8, and not $5 or $4? Due to my family situation, it is also difficult for me to know three days before the appointed time if I need to reschedule in order to avoid forfeiting the $8.
What happens to all the deposits collected by the National Healthcare Group?
Instead of having to book separate appointments for scaling, polishing and/or fillings, is it possible to have another appointment system for multiple treatments?
Having separate appointments takes up more time and incurs more expenses for patients, who have to pay for consultation each time since the appointments can be months apart.
Chua Lay Kwan (Ms)
Better dental services
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<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
I COULDN'T agree more with Mr Lim Fah Kiong's sentiments about the inflexible dental service provided at polyclinics ("Dental service: Be proactive and flexible", Tuesday).
I believe the rule to limit the duration of an appointment for each patient is to improve efficiency and thus productivity. So, technically, patients should be attended to on time if they are punctual. However, it is common to wait 30 minutes or more. At my recent visit, I missed my turn a few times as I did not hear the chime.
By the time I realised my number had been called, another number was flashed for the same room I had been allocated. A man entered the room just ahead of me. I apologised to the dentist for missing the calls, but she insisted that since I missed my calls, she would have to attend to the next patient first as he was already in the room. I reasoned that I had waited 30 minutes already. In the end, the dentist agreed to treat me after checking that the next patient was agreeable. It made me wonder why the public announcement system was not used to call me when I didn't appear after a while. What if I was in the toilet?
When it came to booking my next appointment, I was not happy with being charged an $8 deposit. Why $8, and not $5 or $4? Due to my family situation, it is also difficult for me to know three days before the appointed time if I need to reschedule in order to avoid forfeiting the $8.
What happens to all the deposits collected by the National Healthcare Group?
Instead of having to book separate appointments for scaling, polishing and/or fillings, is it possible to have another appointment system for multiple treatments?
Having separate appointments takes up more time and incurs more expenses for patients, who have to pay for consultation each time since the appointments can be months apart.
Chua Lay Kwan (Ms)
