New ‘virtual’ dental clinics reduce wait times from six months to two weeks
By Keerthana Syam
A charity-funded pilot project has reduced patient waiting times for dental care.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ virtual clinics have reduced waiting times from six months to two weeks.
Virtual clinics or online appointments offer latest technologies like 3D printing and oral health advice remotely.
This eliminates the need for patients to make costly trips to London and keeps their care closer to home.
The two-year pilot was funded by a £237,000 grant from Guy’s & St Thomas’ charity.
Poonam Kalsi, co-lead of the project and clinical director of Guy’s Dental Hospital, said: “These clinics are common in medicine but there hasn’t been anything formalised and funded for dentistry.
“With this model, we are able to ensure that patients are seen at the right time, by the right clinician.”
Patients with simpler conditions receive their care faster at their local dentist while more complex cases are treated at Guy’s Hospital with reduced waiting times.
More than 200 patients in east and southeast England have been treated through this pilot programme.
In addition to receiving faster dental care, this new way of working has saved these patients and their families over 4,000 miles of travel.
Jose Rodriguez, co-lead of the project and consultant in restorative dentistry, said: “This is an example of patient-centred care. We have been able to reduce stressful commutes for patients.
“It’s also better for the environment. It’s completely electronic and reduces patient travel.”
Patients born with missing adult teeth, known as hypodontia, received orthodontic care up to seven times faster under this new scheme.
Around six in 10 hypodontia patients, the majority of whom are teenagers, were seen within two weeks, compared with the usual eight-15 week wait.
Flexible appointments improve accessibility by benefitting patients from ethnic minority backgrounds facing barriers to hospital travel.
Ruth Taylor, interim director of funding and impact for Guy’s & St Thomas’ charity, added: “We invest at Guy’s and St Thomas’ to help them deliver faster and fairer services to NHS patients across the UK.”
Pictured top: The team behind Guy’s and St Thomas’ transformative virtual clinics (Picture: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust)