This month’s edition of our newsletter is a little later than normal landing in your inbox and that is because it’s been an incredibly busy month at WDC!
Early on in the month we got a call which we knew must be coming soon, that we were going to have our Care Quality Commission inspection. For those who don’t know what this is, think, Ofsted for healthcare! It wasn’t a big surprise to us as we haven’t had an inspection for some time now so we knew our time must be coming soon! Needless to say we passed our inspection with flying colours and although these things are always a little nerve wracking, overall it was a very positive experience for us. The report has not yet been published but we will share a link to it when it is available.
It was no-secco alcohol free by the way!!
A Big Well Done!
A big shout out goes to Hayley James our practice manager. Hayley took over the role of registered manager just last year when Sam Fletcher stepped down. Being a registered manager with the CQC is a big responsibility. The CQC inspects healthcare services to ensure that they are safe, effective, well led, responsive and caring and the registered person oversees all of this. We met all of the standards in each of these areas. A great start to Hayley’s career as our practice manager. Well done to all of our team as everyone pulled together to support each other.
Outreach Projects.
At the start of the month, Monica and Hayley carried out another school visit, this time to Arnold View Primary School. They had a fun morning talking to the children about keeping their teeth healthy and visiting the dentist! The children loved it and I think Monica and Hayley did too!
Anna and Monica were also due to start their journey volunteering with Dentaid this month. Dentaid is a charity which provides mobile dental units and volunteer workers to provide outreach dental clinics to people experiencing homelessness, harm, poverty and abuse. Sadly due to a lack of funding one clinic was cancelled and then the next due to a problem with the mobile van! We are undeterred so will sign up again and keep you posted on our volunteering experience!
March also saw us signing up to be a Unity Partner for Bridge2Aid. We have sponsored Dental Therapist Magreth Jeremiah Mbukwa to enable her to undertake additional training in order to upskill and undertake more complex work in the Serengema district in the Mwanza region of Tanzania. The Mwanza region as a whole has a population of 3.7 million and has just 4 dentists and 30 dental therapists so there is a huge need for the additional help and skills that Magreth will bring.
Many of our patients will know that for some time now we have supported the work of Gold for Kids. This is a really innovative charity which recycles the scrap metal from dental restorations (such as old crowns) by refining it so that it can be repurposed. The money raised is then donated to children’s charities. We have recently been interviewed by Gold for Kids and the interview was published in Dentistry Magazine. You can read the article by clicking the link below.
Click to read our interview with Gold for Kids
Practice Changes.
This month we have made the difficult decision to give our notice to the local commissioning board that from 1st August 2025 we will be no longer be providing NHS services at our practice. All of our dentists have worked in the NHS for over 20 years and so this decision brings mixed feelings for us. Providing NHS has become increasingly unsustainable. We tried to negotiate with the ICB to allow us to continue to see children and those on lower incomes on an NHS basis but sadly this was declined.
We want to reassure our patients that this change has been made with the long term interests of the practice and our patients in mind. We prioritise a good, compliant and safe service which delivers high quality dentistry to each and every one of our patients. One of our main drives as business owners is also to be good employers and look after our team, always striving to provide them with a great place to work. We have several alternative options for continuing your care with us at the practice. You can read more about this by clicking the link below.
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of our patients for their support over the years.
Click to read more about our practice changes from 1st August 2025.
Sponsorship.
We were approached by Wollaton Cricket Club with a sponsorship opportunity and our now proud sponsors of Asif Riaz
Local Events
Foodies Festival, Wollaton Hall & Deer Park, NG8 2AE.
Great food, great music, great fun. 27th, 28th, 29th June 2025.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you again at the practice soon. Best wishes, Team WDC.