Be Prepared for the Unexpected

Arriving at the practice one morning in May last year I was expecting just another noisy, uneventful day.

The practice, which has ten dentists and three hygienists, is situated on a busy one-way street and we had been putting up with road works for the last two weeks which was driving us all crazy.

I was working in the office at the back of the practice when we suddenly lost power. All the lights went out, computers and the telephone system started to blow up in front of us; there was smoke pouring out everywhere and all of our equipment seemed to be going "pop".

It was now that the time we had invested in our fire drill paid dividends. As the emergency lightening came on we calmly dialled 999, evacuated the building and assembled in the car park - patients with locals in, bibs on, treatment started all standing waiting but feeling reassured by the professional manner in which the team managed the emergency.

Two fire engines arrived (with some very nice firemen on board) and eventually the practice was declared safe. Apparently the road workers had cut through the main cables into the building causing a power surge. They got back to work keeping well out of our way!

Unfortunately for us though, this was only the beginning of the problem; we were without electricity for two days, many items of equipment, including computers and the telephone system, had to be replaced. The team worked really hard together to get back to some sort of working pattern in as short a time as possible, however, it took many stressful months to resolve all the issues, and surprise, surprise, the insurance company only settled our claim at the beginning of this year.

Hope this never happens to you!

Lessons learned
Ensure your emergencies protocols are well rehearsed and everyone knows what to do because you never know when you will need to implement them!

Karen Jones
Madeley Dental Practice
Telford, Shropshire