Rights to privacy

We can choose our uniforms. Our staff room is locked but our dentist does knock and waits for an answer before he enters. we all put our stuff in that room. he changes in the toilet if we`re getting changed. One of our nurses arrives in her uniform ( she has Been told).
Yes you should have a right to privacy i would chat to the dentist to find out what his problem is. sounds like you the ones better than him as he sounds to be vry childish. if it wasnt for the DCPs the practices wouldnt run.
SDpeak with the BADN.

Allison, there are a few things involved here I believe.
1. The dentist don't mingle with you nurses, for what ever reason.
2. You want somewhere to keep your valuables
3. You want somewhere to change.

If you do have a locker use that for valuables,that is what it is for.
If you do have a toilet, change there.
If it is his house I don't think you can deny him to enter his own room but why not politely ask him (even if you don't think he deserves that)if he could knock on the door and await your answer.
If he doesn't think that it will work, and you don't use the toilet,ask if you could have a little lock on the staff room door so you can change in there, without someone just bursting in. But if you do get a lock on the door, don't overuse it!

Good Luck!

What is it that's keeping you there?? Are you getting fantastic training, getting paid too well? I could maybe forgive some bad behaviour from a dentist, but this isn't acceptable. You are as important as the next person and if they can't treat you with respect and common courtesy then they don't deserve your time! Simple. If you're good at what you do and want to thrive then this is not the environment to do it in. Our jobs are stressful enough without having to worry about unsupportive dentists. Sorry, I know this is a mish mash of sentences, but this kind of thing really frustrates me!

Thanks for both replies.

In answer to the bad blood between DCP's the dentists think they are above the nurese and won't share a staff room, they call us "minions" as well as another few choice phrases which I'd rather not type. Needless to say they dont think much of us.

As for practice meetings.......what are they? As god is my witness we have not had a practice meeting in over 4 years even though we have asked for them the principle dentists do not want to know.

As nurses we are a fantastic team and all work well together. It looks like we're screwed as far as having a working relationship with the dentists. Patients are always saying how nice we are but the dentists don't acknowledge this or give us any credit. We are there to take the blame when anything goes wrong.

We'll end up with a mutiny or us all looking for new jobs

With regards to the uniform - you don't have much say really if the principle is happy with them. It can be very costly to change the uniform of the entire team I have felt the same as you before about a uniform and we did EVERYTHING to get it changed with no luck! It's part of the branding!

And your dentist sounds like an ass. But tbh I wouldn't have thought you have any rights to privacy. You would think it was common courtesy. May I suggest a door stop on the other side of the door when you're in there getting changed (providing the door opens in) then watch him ceremoniously smack his head on the door in surprise when he tries to enter That will get him. Or - thoroughly embarass him next time you have a practice meeting. Play him at his own game! As long as you don't go too far I say you're just as important at the dentist! Do you think he is actually trying to catch you all half naked? If so, that could be a more serious problem. xx

If memory serves, I believe the H&S charter states that you need to be provided with adequate wash facilities i.e getting changed, however if you have a toilet with a lock on then that'd probably be acceptable in the eyes of the HSE. In regards to privacy, I think you pretty much have no leg to stand on (as much as I feel your pain). I think another right is to have a secure location for valuables but I guess that your lockers would cover that.
I don't understand why the different DCP types don't mix though, is there bad blood between your tema or something? It sounds very awkward

In our practice us nurses have a seperate staff room to the dentists (they don't want to mix with us out of surgery). We have a toaster, microwave, fridge and kettle that we provided between us. We also have lockers a table and chairs and a sink unit. All this is in an attic room. What I would like to know is if our principle dentist is allowed to go into our staff room when none of us are present? Do we have any right to privacy in this room? This room is where we get changed and keep all our personal belongings. I know the dentist owns the building but does that means he can come and go as he likes in our staff room without any of us being present? The reason I am asking is because on occasions he has gone up into our room and then later we have found our fridge unplugged and everything defrosted, and bottles of coke shaken so vigorously that when opened they have litterally exploded covering us all in pop! Our principle dentist has got a very spitefull streak.........the only other option is a poltergiest but don't think this very likely.

I just want to know if we have any rights to privacy in our own staff room? He has come in on three of us getting changed, all at seperate times and on our own, he found this highly amusing each time.

The dentists have a combination lock on their staff room door, they leave it open for the cleaners but make sure it's closed when us nurses get into work !

If ayone has a clue could you let me know please? We have a lot of issues that we intend to approach him with together but we would like the facts so we know what we have a right to.

Also do we have a right as to any say in what our uniforms are? Pts keep saying we look like ice cream sellers and its a bit embarrassing.