This policy is in place at the practice to ensure a consistent, fair and transparent process is undertaken when a patient misses an appointment. This policy is displayed on our practice notice board and on our website.
Cancellation or delay of an appointment by the practice
We will only cancel or delay a patient’s appointment in unavoidable circumstances. In such cases, we will take the following steps:
- The patient will be contacted as soon as the practice is aware of the need to cancel or delay the appointment. We will explain the reason for the cancellation or delay.
- At the time of contact, the patient will be offered a new appointment at the earliest time available.
- If the patient is unable to commit to a new appointment during that contact, we will ask them to get in touch at a later time, when we will offer them a further appointment.
Patient cancellations
- Although we understand that things happen, and schedules do change, we ask that you provide us with at least 48 hours’ notice for any appointment changes. Missed appointments prevent us from scheduling another patient that could benefit from our services. We schedule individual time with each patient to allow us to deliver the quality, personal care that every patient deserves.
- If you are not able to attend your appointment, please give us at least 48 hours’ notice so that we can allocate the time to someone else.
- The practice considers any appointment to be ‘missed’ where the patient fails to attend or fails to provide at least 48 hours’ notice on cancellation of an appointment.
- For appointments longer than 60 minutes we request that you give us as much notice as possible, but at least 48 hours.
- We offer a text and email reminder service 48 hours prior to your appointment. If you would like to arrange this then please ask our reception team who will be happy to set this up for you.
Failure to attend
- New patients that fail to attend or are not brought will not be offered another appointment.
- If you fail to attend 2 appointments in 2 years, or 2 consecutive appointments, we will no longer offer you treatment.
- If you fail to visit the practice for 2 years or more, we will not be able to offer you any further appointments due to the high patient demand.
- If you are being seen on a private/Denplan basis, a late cancellation/failure to attend fee of £50 per 30 minutes or part there-of is applied unless you have already provided an equivalent deposit.
- Denplan patients – please refer to your Denplan Care or Denplan Essentials Handbook under ‘The Care/Essentials Contract between you and your dentist’ (Point 10):
“You are responsible for keeping appointments made with your dentist and you must pay any missed appointment fee should you fail to do so. You must ensure that you also attend your dentist for regular examinations, receive the treatment your dentist advises and you must promptly inform your dentist of any injury, problem or other material matter affecting your oral health. If you fail to ensure any of this you will be liable to pay any fee reasonably charged for treatment necessary to restore your oral health, which could otherwise have been avoided.”
- Please note, reminders are provided out of courtesy only and it is a patient’s responsibility to turn up on time for an appointment. Failure of our reminder system for any reason is not a sufficient reason for failing to attend or turning up too late for treatment.
Deposits
- The practice requests a £75 deposit for private new patient examinations. Treatment appointments require a £50 deposit per 30 minutes or part-there-of booked. If you fail to attend your appointment the practice will retain this deposit as a missed appointment fee.
- Regular patients can provisionally book without paying a deposit at the time of booking, however you may if you wish. The practice expects to receive the deposit within 2 weeks of the appointment in order to confirm your attendance. If the deposit has not been received by the practice within 2 weeks of your appointment, we will make reasonable attempts to contact you. If we are unable to make contact we may make your appointment slot available to other patients.
- If you wish to cancel your appointment but have already paid a deposit, your deposit can be moved to an alternate date, or your deposit can be refunded using the same payment method when booked. The practice requires at least 48 hours notice to cancel or we will retain your deposit.
Outstanding balances
- The practice will make reasonable attempts to contact you and will not book any further appointments if you have an outstanding balance.
- If an appointment has been booked as a result of a clerical error, the appointment may be cancelled unless the outstanding balance has been cleared.
Appeals
Any appeals about missed or cancelled appointments should be made in writing and addressed to the Practice Manager, Miss Claire Taysom.