Practice Information
Accreditation
St Ives Dental Group is accredited according to The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and is one of a few accredited dental practices in New South Wales. Accreditation provides our patients with the assurance that they receive a consistently high level of safe and quality care. Our practice systematically reviews its dental systems and processes.
Sterilisation
St Ives Dental Group complies with standards and exceeds the legal requirements. All sterilisable instruments are cleaned then sterilised in autoclaves, which are maintained regularly by qualified technicians. Critical instruments are wrapped, sealed and stored according to Australian standards, until use. We also incorporate batch control identification, for surgical procedures. This allows us to track instruments to a specific patient, should the need arise. The sterilisation process is tested, monitored and recorded daily.
Child Dental Benefits Schedule
Bulk-billing with no gap payment is available for the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. This is a child dental program funded by the Federal Government that provides eligible children and teenagers aged 2 to 17 with up to $1,000 for basic dental services. It is capped over two consecutive calendar years. Eligible families, teenagers and approved care organisations will receive a letter from the Australian Government to confirm eligibility. If your child is eligible, all you need to do is call us to book an appointment. Please mention the CDBS Scheme when booking your appointment.
Fees
We strive to keep fees affordable, without compromising our quality care and materials. In fact, surveys by HCF health fund and the Australian Dental Association show our fees to be at or below the national average, and record the number of services per member as below average.
We keep the fees lower by the economies of scale that we create by having a group practice, and we are proud to restrict your services to no more than that which is required by you.
Privacy Policy
Our practice respects your right to privacy. We realise that it is important that you understand the purpose for which we collect details about your health, as well as how this information is used at our practice and to whom this information might be disclosed.
The policy of our Practice is to follow these procedures:
- The information collected on your history form will be used for the purpose of providing treatment to you. Personal information such as your name and address will be used for the purpose of addressing accounts to you, as well as processing payments and writing to you about any issues affecting your treatment.
- We may disclose your health information to other health care professionals, or require it from them if, in our judgement, that is necessary in the context of your treatment. In that event, disclosure of your personal details will be minimised wherever possible.
- We may also use parts of your health information for research purposes, in study groups or at seminars as this may provide benefit to other patients. Should that happen, your personal identity will not be disclosed without your consent to do so.
- Your patient history, treatment records, x-rays and any other material relevant to your treatment will be kept here. You may inspect or request copies of your treatment records at any time, or seek an explanation from the dentist. If you want copies, a fee may apply. If you require an explanation of your records or a written summary, a consultation fee or other charge may apply.
- If any of the information we have about you is inaccurate, you may ask us to alter our records accordingly.
You can otherwise rest assured that your health information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Disclosure will not be made to any person not involved in either your treatment or the administration of this Practice, without your prior consent. If you have any queries or concerns about our handling of your health information, please do not hesitate to raise these concerns with our Practice. As part of our commitment to preserving the confidentiality of the information contained in your dental record we advise that strict secure storage policies are observed in this Practice. Your electronic records are accessible only by staff of this practice and are protected by a security password. Your paper records are kept in secure filing cabinets and accessible only by practice staff. Each staff member is well versed in the principles and importance of dentist-patient confidentiality.