We provide you with regular news about the dental sector and our practice.

December 2011: Downstairs surgery refurbishment complete

Our downstairs surgery has now been completely refurbished and is back in use. John Gamon is now using the downstairs surgery full time, with our other Dentists sharing the use of the large upstairs surgery.

The surgery layout has been altered so that we can provide treatment to disabled patients in their wheelchairs when required.

January 2012: goodbye, and hello!

Our receptionist/trainee nurse Janine has sadly had to leave the Practice to take up a position in her husband's business. 

We are delighted to welcome Vicky Adam to our team. Vicky is an experienced Dental Nurse who more recently has been managing another dental practice, but is keen to get back into working in the surgery and meeting our patients.

February 2012: CQC Inspection

We were inspected by the Care Quality Commission as part of their routine programme of inspections on January 31st 2012. 

We are happy to report that the CQC were satisfied with the service we are providing.

You can read the report on their website at http://www.cqc.org.uk/directory/1-183956188

The CQC started regulating dental practices relatively recently in April 2011 and we are one of only a few practices in the area to have been inspected so far.

June 2015: Staff update

Ian Ellis has now left our team, after many years practicing dentistry in Hetton, Ian has decided to leave general practice and focus on his hospital and teaching commitments. We wish him all the best for the future. 

July 2015: CQC Inspection

We were inspected by the Care Quality Commission as part of their routine programme of inspections in July 2015.

We are happy to report that the CQC were satisfied with the service we are providing.

You can read the report on their website at http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-183956188/reports

2016 - new arrivals and departures

We are delighted to welcome Clare Hindmarch to our team. Clare is an experienced general dental practitioner who qualified in Newcastle and also works in general practice in Dunston. Clare will be taking over Steven Farnell's and Nicola Harlow's dental patients for routine care and also welcoming new patients.

Nicola Harlow has decided to leave the practice to focus on her hospital work.

In November we are welcoming two new orthodontists to our team, Callum Rushforth and Simon Lovel. Between them, they have many years experience and are both on the GDC Specialist Register in orthodontics. Steven Farnell will continue to provide orthodontic treatment until the end of March 2017.

December 2016: CQC Inspection

We were re-inspected by the Care Quality Commission as part of their routine programme of inspections in December 2016.

We are happy to report that once again the CQC were satisfied with the service we are providing.

2017 - Goodbye Steven

Steven Farnell retired from clinical dentistry in October this year. We wish him all the best for his retirement and would like to thank him for over thirty years of service to the community as a dental practitioner here in Hetton. 

The Government announced on 28th May that Dental Practices can commence re-opening from 8th June.

We are looking forward to reopening and welcoming patients back to the surgery.

We have been working hard during the lockdown period to ensure that we can provide a safe service for our patients, whilst maintaining a safe working environment for our staff.

When we re-open, it will not be "business as usual" as the current requirements for social distancing and advanced PPE will greatly reduce the number of patients we can see each day and the types of procedures we carry out.

We will be prioritising patients so we can help those who need us most first, so please bear with us during this period. For those patients who we have had to cancel appointments for, or who have contacted us with problems during the lockdown period, we will be in touch.

Please bear in mind that although we are reopening for face to face care on 8th June, at this stage:

• You will not be able to book routine dental appointments
• Advice and urgent care is still available via telephone triage
• Appointments will be allocated based on individual needs and following clinical assessment by one of our dentists.

We would like to thank you for your continued support, patience and understanding during this difficult period.We look forward to continuing to care for your oral health and to a time when we can return to our normal routine.

John & Victoria Gamon - Partners

On behalf of all the team at Hetton Dental Practice