It is the aim of this practice to provide quality dental care to our patients and to use clinical time effectively. To achieve this aim, we have an appointment management and cancellation policy.

Management of appointments

We invest in the latest technology and experienced, well-trained staff to allow our patients to make or reschedule appointments easily and remind our patients of appointments. Appointments can be made or rescheduled by calling our practice telephone number 01242 269498 or speaking to our reception team.

Every year we lose valuable surgery time due to patients failing to attend their appointments or cancelling at short notice and this makes it more difficult for us to accommodate our patients in need of urgent treatment or for existing patients to book appointments. We ask that you help us by giving as much notice as possible if you need to cancel an appointment.

Reminders

E-mail or text reminders are sent to patients 7 days and 24 hrs before any appointments and patients are requested to inform the practice of any changes to their contact details.

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 and added to a priority list.
• 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 to confirm a new appointment.

Cancellation of an appointment or missed appointment by a patient

Patients are requested to give at least 48 hours notice to cancel a dental appointment. Cancellations should be made by telephone on: 01242 269498 wherever possible.

Cancelled Appointment Fees

To reduce the number of failed or late cancellations we very much regret having to make the following charges:

• Where a patient cancels (less than 48 hours) or fails to attend an initial consultation, the full deposit will be redeemed as a charge by the practice.
• Where a patient cancels (less than 48 hours) or fails to attend an appointment for treatment the charge will be one-third of the cost of the treatment booked.
• Prepayment of the full appointment fee may also be requested in cases where failing to attend or cancelling at short notice happens frequently.

It is our aim to telephone patients after a missed appointment to understand the reason for non-attendance, we understand that cancellations are sometimes unavoidable due to illness or emergencies and we will assess each scenario to ensure that the charge issued is reasonable and fair.