Failure to Attend
FAILURE TO ATTEND AND SHORT NOTICE CANCELLATION POLICY
At Clock House dental we lose valuable surgery time due to patients failing to attend
their appointments, or cancelling at short notice. This makes it difficult for us to
accommodate other patients who would like to book an appointment or require urgent
care.
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We request that patients give the practice 24 hours’ notice to cancel or rearrange any
appointments, anything less than this will be deemed as a short notice cancellation and
therefore a failed appointment. It may be a considerable amount of time before we can
rebook you. We do understand that life is unpredictable at times therefore discretion may be used if
there is an exceptional reason for the appointment being missed.
PRIVATE PATIENTS
Failed private appointments will result in a charge of £2 per minute of surgery time
missed. This will be added automatically to your records (For example, a 30-minute
appointment being missed will incur a charge of £60). Further appointments will only be
bookable after your account is settled, You may also be asked to pay in advance for any
future appointments.
NHS PATIENTS
Under NHS regulations, we are unable to charge NHS patients who fail to attend their
appointments or cancel at short notice. In order to keep your NHS registration with us
you must attend at least once every 3 years. We recommend regular examinations your
dentist will advise you on how often you should be seen. This policy does not affect your
right to seek NHS care at another practice.
A patient who fails to attend their appointment or cancels at short notice will be notified,
warning them that they will lose their entitlement to NHS dentistry at Clock House dental
if a second appointment is missed or cancelled at short notice within a 2-year period. In
the event that a second appointment is missed or cancelled at short notice within the 2
year period, we will withdraw the offer of NHS dentistry at this practice. Should you wish
to remain a patient at the practice, you will need to register on a private basis.
If you are late for your appointment the reception team will check with the dentist if they
are available to still see you, this is not guaranteed and being to late for an appointment
is treated in the same way as failing to attend or cancelling at short notice. Whilst the
phone lines are busy, we do recommend leaving a voicemail so that we can pick this up
as soon as possible.
EMAIL REMINDERS
We do offer a free email service to remind you of your booked appointments. All emails
are sent automatically by our system and will log to your records. It is your responsibility
to inform us of any changes to your contact details. Our emails are sent out of courtesy,
not necessity therefore it is your responsibility to turn up for your appointment and failure
of the reminder system is not a sufficient reason for failing to attend your appointment.