Goose Green Grump

Thanks everyone. My son does qualify for NHS treatment - he has a sufficiently severe overbite. We're actually having some excellent experiences of the Kings Dental Hospital at the moment for my daughter after a horrible bike accident. But it's the waiting list game that particularly confuses me. My son has just lost all his baby teeth and so he's ripe for intervention. Anyway, this is all helpful and I've got more ability to weigh it up now. Thanks.

My son has just been referred to the Dulwich Orthodontic Centre and had his assessment (after a 6 month wait) there last week. The orthodontist says our options are: - go private and pay for 3 years of treatment OR - get further referred for NHS treatment at the dental hospital and wait quite a bit longer, for less effective treatment. (He would do just braces; NHS dental hospital likely to do tooth extraction too; apparently extraction makes the profile look squished after 3 years). He isn't authorised to provide the treatment under the NHS, for some reason. Anyone had any experience of navigating orthodontists and the NHS? My main questions are: - how do we get a second opinion? - how long is the waiting list for the dental hospital? - how do we evaluate whether the private treatment is more effective than the NHS treatment? - can't we ask for the more 'effective' treatment on the NHS? Thanks all... Feeling a bit lost and need some hive mind help!

Hi - I just went to Beauty Haven today on Amott Road, and had a lovely experience with Liz, the beautician whose home it is. She's very experienced - must have 15-20 years experience - and I liked her relaxed approach. She gave me a small discount because I'd been before and even sent me off with the tail end of a nail polish bottle. Plus she gave me an appointment at very short notice. Nice culpa, good chat.

So, I've now also had a good response from Southwark Council (copied in below). Dominic, centre manager, mentioned that he wanted to explore whether he could set up a re-booking system by phone to avoid us all having to go in and queue. I'll believe it when I see it, but at least that sounded hopeful. Am feeling it's good not to suffer in silence! GGG FROM SOUTHWARK COUNCIL, ... As you may have seen from her automated response, Tara Quinn is on leave at the moment so I am responding on her behalf. May I first apologise, unequivocally, for the chaotic situation you and other customers encountered. I understand that Dominic Horner, the General Manager at Dulwich, has called you to apologise and explain how he will make sure things improve, significantly, in the future. I have copied Tara Quinn in to this email. Yes, there most certainly will be a 'lessons learned' session which I will ask Tara to initiate and lead with Fusion. All your suggestions will be properly considered as part of that exercise. Having invested a great deal in improving the centre (because we know it is well-used and well-loved) there is no excuse, if there ever was, for inconsiderate service to customers. By way of explanation, rather than excuse, I think that staff were just overwhelmed on the day. It is, however, up to Dominic and his team to ensure that there is a 'plan B' (and 'C'; 'D' and 'E' if necessary) to anticipate and cope with such situations in future. I hope this rotten experience hasn't marred your future enjoyment of the pool and other facilities at Dulwich. I know we can't give you your three hours back but I trust we may be able to make up for it with many hours of very good experience in the years to come. If you need anything further please let me know. Yours sincerely, Jay Yeats Head of Leisure & Wellbeing

I went for a swim yesterday during the 'Women Only Session'. There was an Aquafit class going on too but only 3 people at that. One lane was roped off for the fast swimmers (about 4), and others (another 4 or so) were doing lengths in the main area of the pool. It was cold if you stayed still. So not great if you're with little ones. Lifeguard said it was currently at about 27.5 degrees, they were aiming for 29, that this would make a big difference, but that it would take another week to warm up.

Just had Dominic, the Centre manager, ring me to apologise...

I think it was those of us that went straight after the school drop off that complicated things... On the plus side I enjoyed meeting lots of people from the local area. Plenty of time for neighbourly chat. I think we'll do well if ever there's a fuel shortage - we've had queueing practice courtesy of Fusion!

Me. I queued from 9am til 11:45am. Yes, 2 and 3/4 hours. I've just sent this to Southwark Council and posted it to the Fusion feedback website. In the scheme of things, this isn't as bad as not getting housing benefit paid, or leaking roofs etc. But it still irks me! Dear Tara Quinn (cc Cllr Rhoden, & Fusion Leisure - I will send this to them via the online feedback form) Re: Dulwich Leisure Centre Congratulations on opening Dulwich Leisure Centre. it looks lovely. I want to write formally to complain, though, about the Fusion management. This morning I stood in line for 2 hours and 45 minutes to book my children in to swimming lessons. After one hour, I counted 19 people in front of me, and 22 behind. It took a further 1 hr 45 for the 19 people to be seen in front of me. There were 2 receptionists working on swimming lessons. This meant that it was taking an average of 12 minutes per customer, while the queue of people behind grew. We stood the whole time - including a heavily pregnant woman, a woman with chronic fatigue syndrome, and about 10 toddlers who were incredibly well behaved given the circumstances. A number of people gave up on the queue after queueing for over 2 hours, because of their small children's needs. I suspect you will say that the computer was broken down, that this was a one-off because of needing to register everyone for the first time, teething trouble etc. This may sound OK to you. But I want to emphasise that this is not acceptable. Good management could have made that queue move in 45 minutes rather than 2 hours 45 minutes. It seems like your staff think that queuing for this long is ordinary, tolerable, and just one of those 'hazards' every 10 weeks. I had a lot of time this morning to think of things you could have done differently. A few suggestions. a. Anticipated the swimming lesson rush. It's the same at Peckham Pulse (also poorly managed). And PLANNED for it with extra terminals or extra staff, a separate queue, heaven forbid even a handheld computer to go up the line with, online booking system, organised re-registration for those of us who've been having to go to Peckham Pulse for the last year instead, etc. b. Had a paper system ready to go, in case the computers faltered. You could have done the data entry later. c. Offered children's videos on your lovely flat screen TVs, for the toddlers. Or some puzzles or books for them to read, like in a doctor's surgery. d. Offered water, or even a free coffee. e. Apologised to the queue every half an hour and let them know what was happening. Offer feedback forms. f. Publish a 'lessons learned' on your website by the end of this week - to say how it's going to be different next time. The receptionists, even the swimming teachers, seemed not able to take simple decisions like this off their own back. There was no sign of a centre manager, coping with probably your biggest public relations disaster this month. 60+ East Dulwich parents singularly unimpressed with the company Southwark council has contracted with to run swimming for our kids. And paying ?50 a term, on top of council tax, for the privilege. Such a shame, given the public investment that has been made in this pool and the eagerness with which we have awaited its opening. Please tell me that Fusion will be doing a 'lessons learned' and in December I won't have to give up 3 hours of my life again, just so that my kids can learn a life skill in one of the best and riches cities in the world. And I hope that there is some kind of 'service standard' in the Fusion contract which means that Fusion have a financial incentive to improve. I look forward to hearing your comments. I would be happy to discuss this by phone too. yours sincerely Emily Miles