How our accuracy system works
NHS data, real-caller reports, and practice-verified status — combined into one honest picture of dental availability.
Why NHS data alone isn't enough
The NHS Find a Dentist service is our primary data source — we pull it every morning at 3 AM. But NHS data has a problem: practices don't always update it in real-time. A practice might show as "accepting patients" on the NHS website for weeks after their list closed, or vice versa.
That's why we layer two additional signals on top: community reports from real callers and direct verification from practice owners. Together, they give you a much more reliable picture before you pick up the phone.
Three sources. One status.
NHS Data
Pulled daily from the NHS Find a Dentist API. The baseline for every practice. Checked at 3 AM every morning.
Caller Reports
Anyone who has called a practice can confirm or dispute the status. Votes are rate-limited to one per IP every 6 hours to prevent gaming.
Practice Verified
Claimed practices can set their own status directly. This is shown as "Clinic Verified" and takes precedence over community votes during a lockout window.
NHS and private — tracked separately
Many practices offer both NHS and private care. A practice might be full for NHS patients but have private appointments available the same week. We track both independently so you can see the full picture at a glance.
NHS
Primary data from NHS API
Updated every morning. Community votes can confirm or flip the status if 3 consecutive callers disagree.
Private
Community & practice reported
No central NHS feed for private appointments. Status is set by caller reports and/or the practice owner directly.
How the voting system works — step by step
You call the practice
You try to register as a new patient and find out whether they're accepting — either NHS, private, or both.
You submit a report
On the practice page, you answer two quick questions: "Were they accepting NHS patients?" and "What about private?" You can answer one, both, or skip either if you didn't ask.
Your IP address is hashed (never stored raw) and used to enforce a 6-hour cooldown — one report per practice per session.
Status update rules
For unclaimed practices:
- If status is unconfirmed (never set): the very first vote sets it immediately.
- If status is already set: it only flips when 3 consecutive voters all disagree with the current status. This prevents a single bad report from misleading others.
For claimed/verified practices: community votes always count towards the accuracy score, but cannot change the status while the practice owner's verification is within its lockout window.
Accuracy score is recalculated
After every vote, we look at all votes in the past 30 days. The accuracy score is the percentage of those votes that agree with the current listed status. A score of 80%+ means callers are consistently finding what the listing says.
Only the last 30 days count — old data ages out automatically.
Alerts fire when status flips to accepting
When a vote flips an NHS status to accepting, every subscriber who is watching that practice gets an instant email alert — the same alert they'd get from an NHS data update. Community reports and NHS updates are treated as equal triggers.
Practice owner verification & lockout
Dental practices can claim their listing and set their own status directly from their dashboard. When they do, we show a Clinic Verified badge with how recently they verified. Crucially, owner updates trigger a lockout period:
NHS status lockout — 14 days
Once a practice owner sets their NHS status, community votes cannot flip it for 14 days. Votes still count toward the accuracy score, but the displayed status is protected.
Private status lockout — 72 hours
Private appointment availability can change faster — the lockout is shorter at 72 hours. After that, community votes resume full influence.
When the lockout expires, the listing automatically returns to community-driven mode. The owner's stated status remains visible but is no longer protected from flip votes.
What the status colours mean
Accepting patients
NHS data or community reports indicate this practice is currently accepting new patients. Always call to confirm — availability can change daily.
Not accepting
The practice is currently full or not taking on new patients. Watch this listing to be alerted the moment it changes.
Status unconfirmed
We don't yet have reliable data for this practice. It may be newly listed or have no NHS presence. Your call report can set the status immediately.
The accuracy score
When enough people have called and reported, we show an accuracy score badge next to the practice status. It tells you how much agreement there is between real-world calls and the listed status.
Only votes from the last 30 days are counted. Practices with fewer than 1 vote don't show a score.
Anti-gaming protections
- 🔒IP rate limiting: one report per IP per practice per 6 hours. IP addresses are SHA-256 hashed and never stored raw.
- 3️⃣3-vote flip threshold: a status can only change if 3 consecutive voters all disagree. One rogue vote cannot flip a confirmed status.
- 📅30-day rolling window: old votes age out. A practice's score always reflects recent calls, not calls from months ago.
- 🏥Owner lockout: verified practice owners protect their status from vote-flipping for 14 days (NHS) or 72 hours (private).
- 🌅Daily NHS sync: even if community votes have drifted, the NHS data check every morning re-anchors the baseline for NHS practices.
⚡ Community tips trigger real alerts
When a community vote causes an NHS status to flip to accepting, every subscriber watching that practice gets an instant email — the same alert they would get from an official NHS data update. This means if you call a practice and find out they just started accepting again, you can trigger an alert to everyone waiting. Your report directly helps other patients.
Alerts are rate-limited to once per practice per 6 hours to prevent duplicate notifications.
Start watching practices near you
Search by postcode and save practices to your watchlist. You'll be alerted instantly — whether it's from an NHS data update or a caller report.
Search your postcode →