Policies

Policies

Cancellations, Failed and Missed Appointments Policy
It is inevitable that sometimes you may need to cancel or rearrange your dental appointments.

We would ask patients to give as much notice as possible when cancelling an appointment, so we have the opportunity to offer it to someone else although we do understand that during an emergency this is not always possible. Non-attendance and cancellations at short notice without a valid reason deprive other patients of our services.

Appointments are often wasted as people do not attend. Over 10 to 12 hours of appointments per month are being wasted. These appointments could have been used by other patients.

The first time a patient fails to attend a booked appointment we will send a letter, text , phone call or e-mail reminding them that in future they must cancel appointments if they are unable to attend.

After 2 failed to attend letters, text, phone call or e-mails we will advise you that we will no longer be able to book further appointments without prior payment to secure the appointment.

An appointment is considered to have been broken if any of the following occur:

  • the patient fails to show up for the appointment,
  • the patient appears more than 20 minutes late for a scheduled appointment, or
  • the patient calls to cancel an appointment with too little advance notice to allow that appointment time to be rescheduled with another patient (48 hours will be considered to be the minimum time necessary to avoid a broken appointment).

Patients who wish to cancel dental appointments must do so a minimum of 48 hours in advance of their scheduled appointment. If less notice is given without a valid excuse, the appointment will be considered to have been broken and will count towards 2 times grace after which will no longer be able to offer further appointment without prior payment to secure the appointment.

Missed appointments waste surgery time that could be used by others. If you are unable to attend an appointment, we ask that you let us know as early as possible and with a minimum of 2 working days notice.

If a patient fails to attend an appointment or cancels at short notice (with less than 2 days notice) on more than one occasion the practice has the right to remove the patient from the practice and the patient will need to seek alternative arrangements for their dental care.

Patients that have not attended regular appointments at the dentists recommended recall period will be removed from the practice list.

If you have a medical reason for your cancellation, we now require a hospital or GP appointment letter as evidence. Failure to provide this with less than two working days’ notice will incur a fee or be recorded as a late cancellation.

To remain a patient with the practice, you need to keep up regular appointments, otherwise your place will be given to someone on our waiting list. (This applies to NHS and Private patients)

Covid-19 Policy

If you have a positive Covid-19 result or symptoms, we now require a copy of your Lateral Flow/PCR test result. Failing to provide this (less than 2 working days) will incur a fee/record of late cancellation.